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SHELBY'S 



Expedition to Mexico. 



AN 



UNWRITTEN LEAF 



OF 



THE WAR. 



BY 



JOHN N. EDWARDS, 

AUTHOR OF " SHELBY AND HIS MEN," &C., &C. 



KANSAS CITY, MO,: 

KANSAS CITY TIMES STEAiM BOOK AND JUB PRINTING HOUSE. 

I S72. 



\7l 2^1 



>\ » -^ '•'. V ' >'^'- 



Y-3j'^' 



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AN UNWRITTEN I.EAF OF THE WAR. 



manner of supplies, and from the other 
side all kinds and grades of cotton. 
This dethroned king had transferred its 
empire from the Carolinas to the Gulf, 
from the Tombigbee to the Rio Grande. 
It was a fugitive king, however, with 
a broken sceptre and a meretricious 
crown. Afterwards it was guillotined. 

Gen. E. Kii-by Smith was the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of this Department, 
who had under him as lieutenants, Gen- 
erals John B. Magruder and Simon B. 
Buckner. Smith was a soldier turned 
exhorter. It is not known that he 
preached ; he prayed, however, and his 
prayers, like the prayers of the wicked, 
availed nothing. Other generals in 
other parts of the army prayed, too, 
notably Stonewall Jackson, but between 
the two there was this difference : The 
first trusted to his prayers alone ; the 
last to his prayers and his battalions. 
Faith is a fine thing in the parlor, but it 
never yet put grape-shot in an empty 
caisson, and pontoon bridges over a full- 
fed river. 

As I have said, while the last act in 
the terrible drama was being performed 
east of the Mississippi river, all west of 
th(5 Mississippi was asleep. Lee's sur- 
render at Appomattox Court House 
awoke them. Months, however, before 
the last march Price had made into Mis- 
souri, Shelby had an interview with 
Smitli. They talked of many things, 
but chiefly of the war. Said Smith : 

"What would you do in this emergen- 
cy, Shelby f 

"I would," was the quiet reply, "march 
every single soldier of my command into 
Missouri — infantry, artillery, cavalry, 
all ; 1 would fight there and stay there. 
Do not deceive yourself. Lee is over- 
powered ; Johnson is giving up county 
after county, full of our corn and wheat 
fields ; Atlanta is in danger, and Atlan- 
ta furnishes the powder ; the end ap- 
proaches; a supreme eflbrt is necessary; 
the eyes of the East are upon the West, 
and with fifty thousand soldiers such as 
yours you can seize St. Louis, hold it, 
fortify it, and cross over into Illinois. 
It would be a diversion, expanding into 



a campaign — a blow that had destiny in 
it." 

Smith listened, smiled, felt a momen- 
tary enthusiasm, ended the interview, 
and, later, sent eiglit thousand cavalry 
under a leader who marched twelve 
miles a day and had a wagon train as 
long as the tail of Plantamour's comet. 

With the news of Lee's surrender 
there came a great paralysis. What had 
before been only indifference was now 
death. The army was scattered through- 
out Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, but 
in the presence of such a calamity it con- 
centrated as if by intuition. Men have 
this feeling in common with animals, 
that imminent danger brings the first 
into masses, the last into herds. Buffalo 
fight in a circle; soldiers form square. 
Smith came up from Shreveport, Louis- 
iana, to Marshall, Texas. Shelby went 
from Fulton, Arkansas, to the same 
place. Hither came also other Generals 
of note, such as Hawthorne, Buckner, 
Preston and Walker, Magruder 

tarried at Galveston, watching 
with quiet eyes a Federal fleet 
beating in from the Gulf. In addition 
to this fleet there were also transports 
blue with uniforms and black with sol- 
diers. A wave of negro troops was 
about to inundate the department. 

Some little re-action had begun to be 
manifested since the news of Appomat- 
tox. The soldiers, breaking away from 
the iron bands of a rigid discipline, had 
held meetings pleading against surren- 
der. They knew Jefferson Davis was a 
fugitive, westward bound, and they 
knew Texas was filled to overflowing 
with all kinds of supplies and war mu- 
nitions. In their simple hero faith they 
believed that the struggle could still be 
maintained. Thomas C. Reynolds was 
Governor of Missouri, and a truer and 
braver one never followed the fu- 
neral of a dead nation his common- 
wealth had revered and respected. 

This Marshall Conference had a two- 
fold object: first to ascertain the immi- 
nence of the danger, and, second, to pro- 
vide against it. Strange things were 
done there. The old heads came to the 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico 



yoimg one ; the infantrj^ yielded its pre- 
cedence to tlie cavalry ; The Major-Gen- 
eral asked advice of the Brigadier. 
There was no rank beyond that of dar- 
ing and genius. A meeting was held, at 
which all were present except Gen. 
Smith. The night was a Southern one, 
full of balm, starlight and flower-odor. 
The bronzed men were gathered quietly 
and sat awhile, as Indians do who wish 
to smoke and go upon the war-path. 
The most chivalrous scalp-lock that 
night was worn by Buckner. 
He seemed a real Eed Jacket in his 
war-paint and feathers. Alas ! w^hy 
was his tomaliawk dug up at all ? Be- 
fore the ashes were cold about the em^. 
bers of the council-fire, it was htiried. 

Shelby was called on to speak first, 
and if his speech astonished his audi- 
tors, they made no sign : 

"The army has no confidence in Gen. 
Smith," he said, slowly and deliberately, 
"and for the movements proposed there 
must be chosen a leader whom they 
adore. We should concentrate every- 
thing upon the Brazos river. We must 
fight more and make fewer speeches. 
Fugitives from Lee and Johnson will 
join us by thousands ; Mi. Davis is on 
his way here ; he alone has the right to 
treat of surrender; our intercourse 
with tlie French is perfect, and 
fifty thousand men with arms in their 
hands have overthrown, ere now, a dy- 
nasty, and established a kingdom. Every 
step to the Rio Grande must be fought 
over, and Avhen the last blow has been 
struck that can be struck, we will march 
into Mexico and re-instate Juarez or es- 
pouse Maximilian. General Preston 
should go at once to Marshal Bazaine 
and learn from him whether it is peace 
or war. Surrender is a word neither 
myself nor my division understand." 

This bold speech had its effect. 

"Who will lead us f the listeners de- 
manded. 

"Who else but Buckner," answered 
Shelby. " He has rank, re3)utation, the 
confidence of the army, ambition, is a 
soldier of fortune, and will take his 
chances like the rest of us. Whicli one 



of us can read the future and tell the 
kind of an empire our swords may carve 
out?" 

Buckner assented to the plan, so did 
Hawthorne, Walker, Preston and Rey- 
nolds. The compact was sealed with 
soldierly alacrity, each General answer- 
ing for his command. But who was to 
inform General Smith of this sudden 
resolution — this semi-mutiny in the 
very whirl of the vortex ? 

Again it was Shelby, the daring and 
impetuous. 

"Since there is some sorrow about this 
thing, gentlemen," he said, "and since 
men who mean business must have bold- 
ness, Twill ask the honor of presenting 
this ultimatum to General Smith. It is 
some good leagues to the Brazos, and 
we must needs make haste. I shall 
march to-morrow to the nearest enemy 
and attack him. Have no fear. If I do 
not o^ erthrow him I will keep him long 
enough at bay to give time for the move- 
ment southward." 

Immediately after tlie separation > 
Gen. Shelby called upon Gen. Smith. 
There were scant words between them. 

"The army has lost confidence ui you, 
Gen. Smith." * 

" I know it." 

" They do not wish to surrender." 

" Nor do I. What would the army 
have T^ 

" Your withdrawal as its direct com- 
mander, the appointment of Gen. Buck- 
ner as its chief, its concentration upon 
the Brazos river, and war to the knife, 
Gen. Smith." 

The astonished man rested his head 
upon his hands in mute surprise. 
A shadow of pain passed rapidly over 
his face, and he gazed out through the 
night as one Avho was seeking a star or 
beacon for guidance. Then he arose as 
if in pain and came some steps nearer 
the young conspirator, whose cold, calm 
eyes had never wavered through it all. 

"What do you advise. Gen. Shelby?" 

"Instant acquiescence." 

Tlie order was written, the com- 
mand of the army was given 
to Buckner, Gen. Smith returned 



AX UNWRITTEX LEAF OF THE WAR. 



to Slireveyjoit, eacli odicci- galloped off 
to his tioops, ixiul llie lirst act in the re- 
volution had been fiDished. The next was 
played before a different audience and 
in another theatre. 



CHAPTER II. 

Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner was a 
soldier handsome enough to have been 
Murat. His uniform was resplendent. 
Silver stars glittered upon his coat, his 
gold lace shone as if it had been washed 
by the dew and wiped with the sunshine, 
his sword was equaled onlj^ in bright- 
ness by the brightness of its scabbard, 
and when upon the streets women 
turned to look at him, saying, "That is 
a hero with a form like a war-god." 
Gen. Buckner also wrote poetry. Some 
of his sonnets were set to music in scanty 
Confederate fashion, and when the red 
June roses were all ablow, and the night 
at peace with bloom and blossom, they 
would float out from open casements as 
the songs of minstrel or troubadour. 
Sir Philip Sidney was also a poet who 
saved the English army at Gravelines, 
and though mortally wounded and dying 
of thirst, he bade his esquire give to a suf- 
fering comrade the water brought to 
cool his own parched lips. From all of 
which it was argued that the march to 
the Brazos would be but as the calm be- 
fore the hurricane— that in the crisis the 
American poet would have devotion 
equal to the English poet. From the 
Marshall Conference to the present time, 
however, the sky has been without a 
war cloud, the lazy cattle have multi- 
plied by all the w ater-courses, and from 
pink to white the cotton has bloomed, 
and blown, and been harvested. 

Before Shelby reached his Division 
away up on the prairies about Kauf- 
man, news came that Smith had resumed 
command of the army, and that a flag 
of truce boat was ascentling Red river 
to Shreveport. This meant surrender. 
Men whose rendezvous has been agreed 



ui)on, and wliose campaigns have been 
marked out, had no business with flags 
of truce. By the end of the next day's 
march Smith's order of surrender came. 
It was very brief and very comprehen- 
sive. The soldiers were to be concen- 
trated at Shreveport, were to surrender 
their arms and munitions of war, were 
to take paroles and transportation 
wherever the good Federal deity in 
command happened to think appro- 
priate. 

What of Buckner with his solemn pro- 
mises, his recently conferred authority, 
his elegant new uniform, his burnished 
sword with its burnished scabbard, liis 
sweet little sonnets, luscious as straw- 
berries, his swart, soldierly face, hand- 
same enough again for ]\Iurat "? Think- 
ing of his Chicago property, and con- 
templating the mournful fact of having 
been chosen to surrender the first and 
the last army of the Confederacy. 

Smith's heart failed him when the 
crisis came. Buckner's heart was never 
fired at all. All their hearts failed them 
except the Missouri Governor's 
and the Missouri General's, and 
so the Brazos ran on to 
the sea without having watered a caval- 
ry steed or reflected the gleam of a biu*- 
nished bayonet. In the meantime, how- 
ever, Preston was well on his way to 
Mexico. Later, it will be seen how Ba- 
zaine received him, and what manner of 
a conversation he had with the Emperor 
Maximilian toucliing Shelby's scheme at 
the Marshall.Conference. 

Two plans presented themselves to 
Shelby the instant the news came of 
Smith's surrender. The first was to 
throw his division upon Shreveport 
by forced marches, seize the govern- 
ment, appeal to the army, and then 
carry out the original order of concen- 
tration. The second was to make all 
suiTender impossible by attacking the 
Federal forces, wherever and whenever 
he could find them. To resolve with 
him was to execute. He wrote a procla- 
mation destLued for the soldiers, and for 
want of better material, had it printed 
upon wall paper. It was a variegated 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



tbing, all blue, and black and red, and 
unique as a circus advertisement. 

"Soldiers, you have been betrayed. 
The generals whom you trusted have re- 
fused to lead you. Let us begin the battle 
again by a revolution. Lift up the flag 
that lias been cast down dishonored. 
Unsiieatb the sword that it may remain 
unsullied and victorious. If you desire 
it, I will lead ; if you demand it, I will 
follow. We are the army and the cause. 
To talk of surrender is to be a traitor. 
Let us seize the traitors and attack the 
enemy. Forward, for the South and 
Liberty !" 

Man proposes and God disposes. A 
rain came out of the sky that was an 
inundation even for Texas. All the 
bridges in the west were swept away in 
a night. The swamps that had been 
dry land rose against the saddle, 
girths. There were no roads, nor any 
spot of earth for miles and miles dry 
enough for a bivouac. Sleepless and 
undismayed, the brown-bearded,bronzed 
Missoui'ian toiled on, his restless eyes 
fixed on Shreveport. There the drama 
was being enacted he had struggled like 
a giant to prevent ; there division after 
division marched in, stacked their arms, 
took their paroles, and were disbanded. 
When, by superhuman exertions, his 
command had forced itself through from 
Kaufman to Corsicana, the fugitives be- 
gan to arrive. Smith had again surren- 
dered to Buckner, and Buckner in turn 
had surrendered to the United States. 
It was useless to go forward. If you at- 
tack the Federals, they pleaded, you will 
imperil our unarmed soldiers. It was 
not their fault. Do not hold them re- 
sponsible for the sins of their officers. 
They were faithful tq the last, and even 
in their betrayal they were true to their 
colors. 

Against such appeals there was no an- 
swer. The horn- for a cottp d'etat had 
passed, and from a revolutionist Shelby 
was about to become an exile. Even in 
the bitterness of his overthrow he was 
grand. He had been talking to uni- 
formed things, full of glitter, and var- 
nish, and gold lace, and measured into- 



nations of speech that sounded like the 
talk stately heroes have, but they were 
all clay and carpet-knights. Smith fal- 
tered, Buckner faltered, other Generals, 
not so gay and gaudy .faltered, they all fal- 
tered. If warhadbeen a woman, winning 
as Cleopatra, with kingdoms for caresses, 
the lips that sang sonnets would never 
have kissed her. After the smoke 
cleared away, only Shelby and Reynolds 
stood still in the desert — the past a Dead 
Sea behind them, the future, what — the 
dark ? 

One more duty remained to be done. 
The sun shone, the waters had subsided, 
the grasses were green and undulating, 
and Shelby's Missouri Cavalry Division 
came forth from its bivouac for the last 
time. A call ran down its ranks for 
volunteers for Mexico. One thousand 
bronzed soldiers rode fair to the front, 
over them the old barred banner, worn 
now, and torn, and well nigh abandoned. 
Two and two they ranged themselves 
behind their leader, waiting. 

The good-byes and the partings fol- 
lowed. There is no need to record them 
here. Peace and war have no road in 
common. Along the pathway of one 
there are roses and thorns; along the 
pathway of the other there are many 
thorns, with a sprig or two of laurel 
when all is done. Shelby chose the last 
and marched away with his one thou- 
sand men behind him. That night he 
camped over beyond Corsicanna, for 
some certain preparations had to be 
made, and some valuable war munitions 
had to be gathered in. 

Texas was as a vasttirsenal. Magnif- 
icent batteries of French artillery stood 
abandoned upon the prairies. Those who 
surrendered them took the horses but 
left the guns. Imported muskets were 
in all the towns, and to fixed ammuni- 
tion there was no limit. Ten beautiful 
Napoleon guns were brought into camp 
and appropriated. Each gun had six 
magnificent horses, and six hundred' 
rounds of shell and caunister. Those 
who were about to encounter the tin- 
known began by preparing for giants. 
A complete organization was next af- 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



fectecl. An election was held in due 
and formal nianuer, and Sbelby was 
chosen Colonel with a shout. Ke had 
received every vote in the regiment ex- 
cept his own. ^lisfortunes at least make 
men unanimous. The election of the 
companies came next. Some who liad 
been majors came down to corporals, 
and more who had been lieutenants 
went up to maiors. Eauk had only this 
rivalry there, the rivalry of self-sacri- 
tice. From the colonel to the rearmost 
men iu the rearmost file, it was a forest 
of Sharp's carbines. Each carbine had, in 
addition to the forty rounds the soldiers 
carried, three hundred rounds more in 
the wagon train. Four Colt's pistols 
each, dragoon size, and a heavy regula- 
tion sabre, completed the equipment. 
For the revolvers there Avere ten thou- 
sand rounds apiece. Nor was this all. 
In the wagons there were powder, lead, 
bullet-moulds, and six thousand elegant 
newEnfields just landed fi'om England, 
with the brand of the Queen's arms still 
upon them. Recruits were expected, 
and nothing pleases a recruit so well as 
a bright new musket, good for a thou- 
sand yards. 

For all these heavy war materials 
much transportation was necessary. It 
could be had for the asking. Gen. 
Smith's dissolving army, under 
the terms of the surrender, was 
to give up everything. And so th ey did , 
right willingly. Shelby took it back 
again , or at least what was needed. The 
march would be long, and he meant to 
make it honorable, and therefore, in 
addition to the horses, the mules, the 
cannon, the waggons, the fixed ammu- 
nition, and the muskets, Shelby took 
flour and bacon. The quantities were 
limited entirely by tlie anticipated de- 
mand, and for the first time in its history 
the Confederacy was lavish of its com- 
missary stores. 

When all these things were done and 
well done— these preparations— these 
tearings down and buildings up— these 
re-organizations and re-habilitations — 
this last supreme restoration of the 
equilibrium of rank and position, a 
2A 



council of war was called. The old 
ardor of battle was not yet subdued in 
the breast of the lead(^r. ' Playfully call- 
ing his old soldiers young recruits, lie 
wanted as a kind of ])uriiying process, to 
carry them into battle. 

The council tire was no larger than an 
Indian's, and around it Avere grouped 
Elliot, Gordon, Slayback, Williams, 
Collins, Langhorne, Crisp, Jackman, 
Blackwell^ and a host of others who had 
discussed weighty questions before upon 
eve of battle— questions that had men's 
lives in tliem as thick as sentences in a 
school book. 

" Before Ave march southward," said 
Shelby, " I thought we might try the 
range of our new Napoleons." 

No ausAver, save that quiet look one 
soldier gives to another Avhen tlie firing 
begins on the skirmish line. 

"There is a great gathering of Feder- 
als at Shreveport, and a good bloAv in 
that direction might clear up tlie mili- 
tary horizon amazingly." 

No ansAA^er yet. They all knew what 
was coming, hoAVCA^er. 

"We might find hands, too," and heie 
his voice Avas Avistfulaud pleading ; "we 
might find hands for our six thousand 
bright new Enfields. What do you say,, 
comrades V 

They consulted some little time to- 
gether and then took a vote upon the pro- 
position Avhether, in A-iew of the fact tliat 
there were a large number of unarmed 
Confederates at Shreveport awaiting 
transportation, it would be better to at- 
tack or not to attack. It was decided 
against the proposition, and without 
further discussion, the enterprise was 
abandoned. These last days of the di- 
vision were its best. For a week it re- 
mained preparing for the long and per- 
ilous inarch— a week full of the last 
generous rites brave men could pay to a 
dead cause. Some returning and dis- 
banded soldiers were tempted at times 
to levy contributions upon the country 
through which they passed, and at times 
to do some coAvardly Avork under cover 
of darkness and drink. Shelby's stem 
orders arrested them in the act, and his 



lO 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



swift punishment left a shield over the 
neighborhood that needed only its shad- 
ow to ensure safety. The women blessed 
liim for his many good deeds done 
in those last dark days — deeds that shine 
out yet from the black wreck of ihiugs — 
a star. 

This kind of occupation erded at 
last, how^ever, and the column i larched 
away southward. One man alo le knew 
French and they were going t) aland 
filled full of Frenchmen . One m :n alone 
knew Spanish, and they were 5 oing to 
the land of the Spaniards. Tise first 
only knew the French of the schools 
which was no French ; and the ast had 
been bitten by a tawny tarant' la of a 
senorita somewhere up in Soiioia, and 
was worthless and valueless wl ;n most 
needed in the ranks that had guarded 
and protected him. 

Before reaching Austin a terrible trage- 
dy was enacted— one of those sudden 
and bloody things so thoroughly in keep- 
ing with the desperate nature of the men 
who witnessed it. Two otticers — one a 
Captain and one a Lieutenant — quarreled 
about a woman, a fair your c thing 
enough, lissome and light of lo <•. She 
was the Captain's by right of discovery, 
the Lieutenant's by right of conquest. 
At the night encampment she iibandon- 
ed the old love for the new, and in the 
struggle for possession the Captain sti iick 
the Lieutenant fair in the face. 

"You have done a serious thing," some 
comrade said to him. 

"It will be more serious in the morn- 
ing," w^as the quiet reply. 

"But you are in the wrong and you 
should apologize." 

He tapped the handle of his revolver 
significantly, and made answer. 

"This must finish what the blow has 
commenced. A woman worth kissing is 
worth fighting for." 

I do not mention names. There are 
those to-day living in Marion C ounty 
whose sleep in eternity will he. iighter 
and sweeter if they are left in ig- 
norance of how one fair-haired boy died 
who went forth to fight the battles of 



the South and found a grave when her 
battles were ended. 

The Lieutenant challenged the Captain , 
but the questictn of its acceptance was 
decided even before the challenge was 
received. These were the terms : At 
daylight the principals were to meet one 
mile from tiiecamp upon the prairie, arm- 
ed each with a revolver and a saber. They 
were to be mounted and stationed twen- 
ty paces a part, back to back. At the 
word they were to wheel and fire advan- 
cing if they chose or remaining stationa- 
ry if they chose. In no event were they 
to pass beyond a line tw^o hundred yards 
in the rear of each position. This space 
was accorded as that in which the com- 
batants might rein up and return again 
to the attack. 

So secret were the preparations, and 
so sacred the honor of the two men, that, 
although tlje difficulty was known to 
three huadn 1 soldiers, not one of them 
informed Slelby. He would have in- 
stantly arrested the principals and forc- 
ed a compromise, as he had done 
once before under circumstances as ur- 
gent but in no ways similar. 

It was a beautful morning, all balm, 
and bloom and verdure. There was not 
wind enough to shake the sparkling dew- 
drops from the grass — not wind enough to 
lift breast 1 1 ' gh the heavy odor of the flow- 
ers. The face of the sky was placid and 
benignant. Some red like a blush shone 
in the east, and some clouds, airy and 
gossamer,floated away to the west. Some 
birds sang, too.hushed and far apart. Two 
and two, aid in groups, men stole away 
from the Ci iiip and ranged themselves 
on either fl ink. A few rude jokes were 
heard, but :hey died out quickly as the 
combatants-; rode up to the dead line. 
Both were s aim and cool, and on the 
Captain's f loe there was a half smile. 
Poor fellow, there were already the scars 
of three hoi : orable woun ds upon his body 
The fourtli tvould be his death wound. 

They wort': placed, and sat their horses 
like men at ho are about to charge. Each 
head was turned a little to one side, the 
feet rested lightly in the stirrups, the 
left hands grasped the reins well gather- 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF TllE WAR. 



il 



ed up, the riglit hands held the deadly 
pistols, locaded fresh an hour before. 

"Re&dy— wheel /" The tiaiued steeds 
turned upon a pivot as one steed. 

"Fire !" 

The Lieutenant never moved from his 
tracks. The Captain dashed down upon 
him at a fall g;illop, firing as he came 
on. Three chambers were emptied, and 
three bullets spe- 1 away over the prairie, 
harmless. Before the fourt i fire was 
given the Captain was abre ist of the 
Lieutenant, and aiming at hi .n at deadly 
range. Too late ! The Lieutt uant threw 
out his pistol until the mm ^le almost 
touched the Captain's hair, and fired. 
The mad horse dashed away riderless, 
the C aptain's life-blood upon his trap- 
pings and his glossy hide. There was a 
face in the grass, a wid- 
owed woman in Missouri, and 
a soul somewhere in the whi fcy hush and 
waste of eternity. A great cL;agoon ball 
had gone directly through hi,s brain, and 
the Captain was dead before lie touched 
the ground. They buried liim before 
the sun rose, before the dew was dried 
upon the grass that grew r:.:on his pre- 
mature and bloody grave. Tliere was 
no epitaph, yet this might have been 
lifted there, ere the grim soldiers march- 
ed away again to the South : 

"All, soldier, to your houorecl rest, 
Your trutli and valor benring; 
Tlie bravest are the tenderest, 
The loviui? are the dariiiir." 



CHAPTER III. 

At Houston, Texas, there was a vast 
depot of supplies filled with ill kinds of 
quartermaster and commissary stores. 
Shelby desii-ed that the Avoiien and 
children of true soldiers should!' ive such 
of these as would be useful oi bimeficial, 
and so issued his orders. Fht ie were 
disputed by a thousand o^ so lefugees 
or renegades whose heads were begin- 
ning to be lifted up everywhere as soon 
as the last mutterings of the war storm 
were heard in the distance. 

He called to him two Captains— James 
Meadow and James Wood — two men 



known of old as soldiers fit for any strife. 
The first is a farmer now in Jackson— 
the last a farmer in Pettis— both young, 
brave, Avorthy of all good luck or for- 
tune. 

They came speedily— they saluted and 
waited for orders. 

Shelby said: 

"Take one hundred men and march 
quickly to Houston . Gallop of tener than 
you trot. Proclaim to the Confederate 
women rhat on a certain day you will 
distribute to them whatever of cloth, 
flour, ba' on, medicines, clothing, or other 
suppliers they may need, or that are in 
store. Hold the town until that day, and 
then obey my orders to the letter." 

"But if we are attacked ?" 

"Don't wait for that. Attack first." 

"An^l fire ball cartridges f 

"And fire nothing else. Bullets first— 
speechf^s afterwards." 

Thej galloped away to Houston . T wo 
thousand greedy and clamorous ruffians 
were besieging the warehouses. They 
had not fought for Texas and not one 
dollar's worth of Texas property should 
they have. Wood and Meadow drew 
up in front of them. 

"Disperse !" they ordered. 

Wild, vicious eyes glared out upon 
them from the mass, red and swollen bj 
driiik. They had rifled an arsenal, too, 
and all had muskets and cartridges. 

"After we have seen what's inside tbis 
building, and taken what's best for us 
to take!" the leader answered, "we will 
disperse. The war's over, young fel- 
lows, and the strongest party takes 
the plunder. Do you understand our 
logic f 

"Perfectly," replied Wood, as cool as 
a grena'lier, "and it's bad logic, if you 
were a Confederate, good logic if you 
areatl. ef. Let me talk a little. We 
are Miss- ourians, we are leaving Texas, 
we hav( no homes, but we have our or- 
ders and our honor. Not so much as 
one per assion cap shall you take from 
this hoi ,ie until you bring a written or- 
der fi-oj . Jo. Shelby, and one of Shelby's 
men al jng with you to prove that you 



12 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



did not forge tliat order. Do yoii under- 
stand my logic V 

Tliey understood him well, and tliey 
understood better the one hundred stern 
soldiers drawn up ten paces to the rear, 
witli eyes to the front and revolvers 
drawn. Shrill voices from the outside 
of the crowd urged those nearest to the 
detachment to lire, but no weapon was 
presented. Such was the terror of Shel- 
by' name, and such the reputation of his 
men for prowess, that not a robber 
stirred. By and by, from the rear, they 
began to drop away one by one, then in 
squads of tens and twenties, until, be- 
fore an hour, the streets of Houston were 
as quiet and as peaceful as the cattle 
upon the prairies. These two deter- 
mined young officers obeyed their in- 
structions and rejoined ther general. 

Similar scenes were enacted at 
Tyler and Waxahatchie. At the 
iirst of these places was an 
arsenal guarded by Colonel Blackwell, 
and a small detachment consisting of 
squads under Captain Ward, Cordell, 
Eudd, Kirtley and Neale. They were 
surrounded in the night time by a furi- 
ous crowd of mountain plunderers and 
shirking conscripts — men who had 
dodged both armies or deserted both. 
They wanted guns to begin the war on 
their neighbors after the real war was 
over. 
"You can't have any," said Blackwell. 
"We will t,„ke them." 
" Come and do it. These are Slielby's 
soldiers, and they don't know what be- 
ing taken means. Pi-ay teach it to us." 
This irony was had in the darkness, 
be it remembered, and in the midst of 
seven hundred desperate deer-hunters 
and marauders who had baffled all the 
efforts of the regular autliorities to cap- 
ture them. Black well's detachment 
numbered thirty-eight. And now a deed 
was done that territied the boldest in all 
that band grouped togetlier in the dai'k- 
ness, and waiting to spring upon the lit- 
tle handful of devoted soldiers, true to 
that country which no longer had either 
thanks or praise to bestow. James Kirt- 
ley, James Rudd, Samuel Downing, and 



Albert Jeffries seized each a keg of 
powder and advanced in front of the 
arsenal some fifty paces, leaving behind 
them from the entrance a dark and omi- 
nous train. Where the halt was had 
a little heap of powder was placed upon 
the ground, and upon each heap was 
placed a keg, the hole downwards, or 
connected with the heap upon the 
ground. The mass of marauders surged 
back as if the earth had opened at their 
very feet. 
" What do you mean ?" they yelled. 
"To blow you into hell," was Kirtley's 
quiet reply, "if you're within range while 
we are eating our supper. We have 
ridden thirty miles, we have good con- 
sciences, and therefore we are hungry. 
Good night!" and the reckless soldiers 
went back singing. One spark would 
have half demolished the town. A 
great awe fell upon the clamoring hun- 
dreds, and they precipitately fled from 
the deadly spot, not a skulker among 
them remaining until the daylight. 

At Waxahatchie it was worse. Here 
Maurice Langhorne kept guard, Lang- 
horne was a Methodist turned soldier. 
He publishes a paper now in Indepen- 
dence, harder work, perhaps, tlian sol- 
diering. Far be it from the author to 
say that the young Captain ever fell 
from grace. His oaths were few and 
far between, and not the great strapping 
oaths of the Baptists or the Presbyte- 
rians. Tliey adorned themselves with 
black kidsand white neckties, and some- 
times they fell upon their knees. Yet 
Langhorne was always orthodox. His 
pistol practice was superb. During his 
whole live years' service he never missed 
his man. 

He held Waxahatchie with such sol- 
diers as John Kritzer, Martin Kritzer, 
Jim Crow Childs, Bud Pitcher, Coch- 
ran, and a dozen others. He was sur- 
rounded by a furious mob who clamored 
for admittance into the building where 
the stores were. 

"Go away," said Langhorne mildly. 
His voice was soft enough for a preach- 
er's, his looks bad enough for a back- 
slider. 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



13 



They fired on him a close, hot volley. 
Wild work followed, for with such men 
how could it be otherwise 1 No matter 
who fell, nor the number of the dead 
and dying, Langhorne held the town 
tliat night, the day followiug, and the 
next night. There was no more mob. 
A deep peace came to the neighborhood, 
and as he rode away there were many 
true, brave Confederates who came to 
his little band and blessed 
them for wliat had been 
done. In sucli guise did these last 
acts of Shelby array themselves. Scorn- 
ing all who in the name of soldiers 
plundered the soldiers, he left a record 
behind him which, even to this day, has 
men and women to rise up and call it 
noble. 

After Houston, and Tj^ler, and Waxa- 
hatchie, came Austin. The march had 
become to be an ovation. Citizens 
thronged the roads, bringing with them 
refreshments and good cheer. No sol- 
dier could pay for anything. Those 
who had begun by condemning Shelby's 
stern treatment; of the mob, ended by 
upholding him. 

Governor Murrah, of Texas, still re- 
mained at the capital of his State. He 
had been dying for a year. All those 
insidious and deceptive approaches of 
consumption were seen in the hectic 
cheeks, the large, mournful eyes, the tall, 
bent frame that quivered as it moved. 
Murrah was a gifted and brilliant man, 
but his heart was broken. In his life 
there was the memory of an unblessed 
and an unhallowed love, too deep for 
human sympathy, too sad and passionate 
for tears. He knew death was near to 
him, yet he put on his old gray uniform, 
and mounted his old, tried war-horse, 
and rode away 'dying to Mexico. Later, 
in Monterey, the red in his cheeks had 
burnt itself out. The crimson had turn- 
ed to ashen gray. He was dead with 
his uniform around Mm. 

The Confederate government had a 
sub-treasmy in Austin, in the vaults of 
which were three hundred thousand dol- 
lars in gold and silver. Operating about 
the city was a company of notorious 



guerrillas, led by a Captain Rabb, half 
ranchcro and half freebooter. It was 
pleasant pasturage over beyond the 
Colorado river, and thither the Regi- 
ment went, for it had marched far, and 
it was weary. Loitering late for wine 
and wassail, many soldiers halted in the 
streets and tarried till the night came—: 
a misty, cloudy, ominous night, full of 
darkness and dashes of rain. 

Suddenly a tremendous battering 
arose from the iron doors of the vaults 
in the State House where the money was 
kept. Silent horsemen galloped to and 
fro through the gloom ; the bells of the 
churches were rung furiously; a home 
guard company mustered at their armory 
to the beat of the long roll, and from be- 
yond the Colorado tliere arose on the 
night air the full, resonant blare of Shel- 
by's bugle soimding the well-known ral- 
lying call. In some few brief moments 
more the head of a solid column, four 
deep, galloped into the Square, reporting 
for duty to the Mayor of the city — a 
maimed soldier of Lee's army. Ward 
led them. 

"They are battering down the Treas- 
ury doors," said the Mayor. 

"I should think so," replied Ward. 
"Iron and steel must soon give way be- 
fore such blows. Wliat would you 
have ?" 

"The safety of the treasure." 

"Forward, men !" and the detachment 
went off at a trot, and in through the 
great gate leading to the Capitol. It 
was surrounded. The blows continued. 
Lights shone through all the windows ; 
there were men inside gorging them- 
selves with gold. No questions were 
asked. A sudden, pitiless jet of flame 
spurted out from two score of Sharp's 
carbines ; there was the sound of falling 
men on the echoing floor, and then a 
great darkness. From out the smoke, 
and gloom, and shivered glass, and scat- 
tered eagles, they dragged the victims 
forth— dyuig, bleeding, dead. One 
among the rest, a great-framed, giant 
man, had a king's ransom about his per- 
son. He had taken ofl' his pantaloons, 
tied a string around each leg at the bot- 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



torn and had filled tliem. An epicure 
even in death, he had discarded 
the silver. These white heaps, like 
a wave, had inundated the room, more 
precious to fugitive men than food or 
raiment. Not a dollar was touched, and 
a stern guard took his post, as immuta- 
ble as fate, by the silver heaps and the 
blood puddles. In walking his beat 
this blood splashed him to the knees. 

Now this money was money of the 
Confederacy, it belonged to her soldiers, 
they should have taken it and divided 
it jjer capita. They did not do this be- 
cause of this remark. Said Shelby when 
they appealed to him to take it as a 
right : 

'T went into the war with clean hands, 
and by God's blessing, I will go out of 
the war with clean hands." 

After that they would have starved 
before touching a silver picayune. 

Ere marching the "next morning, 
however, Murrah came to Shelby and 
insisted that as his command was the 
last organized body of Confederates in 
Texas, and that as they were on the eve 
of abandoning the country, he should 
take this Confederate property just as 
he had taken the cannon and the mus- 
kets. The temptation was strong, and 
the arguments were strong, but he never 
wavered. He knew what the world 
would say, and he dreaded its malice. 
Not for himself, however, but for the 
sake of that nation he had loved and 
fought so hard to establish. 

"We are the last of the race," he said, 
a little regretfully, "but let us be the 
best as well." 

And so he turned his back upon the 
treasury and its gold, penniless. His 
soldiers were ragged, Avithout money, 
exiles, and yet at his bidding they set 
their faces as iron against the heaps of 
silver, and the broken doors of the 
treasury vaults, and rode on into the 
South. 

When the line of demarkation was so 
clearly drawn between what was sup- 
posed, and Avhat was intended — when, 
indeed, Shelby's line of march was so 
straight and so steadfast as to no longer 



leave his destination in doubt, fugitives 
began to seek shelter under his flag and 
within the grim ranks of his veterans. 
Ex-Governor and Ex-Senator Trusten 
Polk was one of these. He, like the 
rest, was homeless and penniless, and 
joined his fortune to the fortunes of those 
who had justleft three hundred thousand 
dollars in specie in Austin. From all of 
which Trusten Polk might have argued: 

"These fellows will carry me through, 
but they will find for me no gold or sil- 
ver mines." 

Somewhere in the State Avere other 
fugitives struggling to reach Shelby — 
fugitive Generals, Governors, Congress- 
men, Cabinet officers, men who imagin- 
ed that the whole power of .the United 
States Government Avas bent upon their 
capture. Smith was making his way to 
Mexico, so was Magruder, Reynolds, 
Parsons, Standish, Conrow, General 
Lyon, of Kentucky, Flournoy, Terrell, 
Clark, and Snead, of Texas ; General 
John B. Clark, Sr., General Prevost, of 
Louisiana; Governor Henry W. Allen, 
Commodore M. F. Mauiy, General Bee, 
General Oscar Watkius, Colonel Wm. 
M. Broad well. Colonel Peter B. Wilks, 
and a host of others, equally determined 
on flight and equally out at elbows. Of 
money they had scarcely fifty dollars to 
the man. Magruder brought his superb 
spirits and his soldierly heart for every 
fate ; Reynolds, his elegant cultivation, 
and his cool, indomitable courage ; 
Smith, his useless repinings and his rigid 
W^est Point courtesy ; Allen, his 
electric enthusiasm and his abounding 
belief in proAddence ; Maury, 'i Is 1 -arn- 
iug and his foreign decorations ; Clark, 
his inimitable drollery and his broad 
Southern humor ; Prevost, his French 
gallantry and Avit ; Broadwell, his gen- 
erosity and his speculative a^cavs of the 
future ; Bee, his theories of isothermal 
lines and cotton planting ; and Parsons, 
and Standish and ConroAv the shadow of 
a great darkness that was soon to envel- 
op them as in a cloud — the darkness of 
bloody and premature graves. 

The command Avas within three days' 
march of San Antonio. As it approach- 



AN UNAVRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



15 



ed Mexico, the crrass gave place to mes 
quite— the wide, iindnlating prairies to 
matted and impenetrable stretclies of 
chapparal. All tlie rigid requirements 
of war had been carried out — the pic- 
quet guard, the camp guard, the ad- 
vauced posts, aud the outlying scouts, 
aimless aud objectless, apparently, but 
full of dariug, and cunning, and guile. 

Pasturage Avas scarce this night, and 
from water to grass was two good miles. 
The artillery and commissary teams 
needed to be fed, and so a strong guard 
was sent with them to the grazing 
place. Th£\y were magnificent animals 
all, fat and fine enough to put bad 
thoughts in the fierce natures of the 
cow-boys — an indigenous Texas growth 
— aud the unruly borderers. 

They had been gone an hour, and the 
sad roll of the tattoo had floated aAvay on 
the night air. A scouts — Martin Kritzer 
— rode rapidly up to Shelby aud dis- 
mounted. 

He was dusty aud tired, aud had rid- 
den far aud fast. As a soldier, he was 
all iron; as a scout, all intelligence; as a 
sentinel, unacquainted Avith sleep. 

"Well, Martin," his General said. 

"They are after the horses," was the 
sententious reply. 

"What horses !" 

"Those of the artillery." 

"Why do they want them V 

The cavalry soldier looked at his Gen- 
eral in surprise. It was the first time in 
his life he had ever lost confidence in 
him. Such a question from siich a 
source was more than he could well un- 
derstand. He repeated slowly, a look of 
honest credulity on his bronzed face : 

"Why do they want them ?— well, be- 
cause they are fine, fat, trained in the 
harness, scarce to find, and worth half 
their weight m gold. Are these reasons 
enough f 

Shelby did not reply. He ordered 
Langhorne to report to him. He came 
up as he ahvays came, smiling. 

"Take fifty men," were the curt in- 
structions, "and station them a good 
half mile in front of the pastming- 
place. There must be no bullets drop- 



ing in among our stock, and they must 
have plenty of grass room. You Avere 
on duty last night, I believe." 

"Yes, General." 

"And did not sleep ?" 

"No, General." 

"Nor will you sleep to-night. Station 
the men, I say, and then station your- 
self at the head of them. You Avill 
hear a noise in the night— late in the 
night— and presently a dark body of 
horsemen will march up, fair to see be- 
tween the grass and the sky-line. You 
need not halt them. When the range 
gets good fire and charge. Do you un- 
derstand ?" 

"Perfectly." 

In an hour Langhorne was at his post, 
silent as fate and terrible, couching 
there in his lair, Avith fifty good carbines 
behind him. About midnight a low note 
like thunder sprang up from towards 
San Antonio. The keen ear of the prac- 
ticed soldier took in its meaning, as a 
sailor might the speech of the sea. 

"Get ready — they are coming." 

The indolent forms lifted themselves 
up from the great shadow of the earth. 
When they were still again they Avere 
mounted. 

The thunder grew louder. What had 
before been noise, was now shape and 
substance. Seventy-eight border-men 
were riding down to raid the herders. 

"Are you all loaded?" asked Lang- 
horne. 

"All. HaA'e been for four years." 

From the mass in front plain figures 
evolved themselves. Under the stars 
their gun-barrels shone. 

"They have guns," sneered Langhorne, 
"but no scouts in front. What would 
Old Joe say to that 1" 

"He would dismount them and send 
them to the infantry," laughed John 
Kritzer." 

The leading files were within tiCty 
yards — near enough for a volley. They 
had not heard this grim by-play, ren- 
dered under the night and to the ears of 
an unseen death crouching in the prairie 
grass. 

"Make ready!" Langhome's voice 



i6 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



Lad a gentleuess in it, soft as a caress. 
Tlie Methodist had turned lover. 

Fifty dark muzzles crept out to the 
front, and waited there, gaping. 

"Take aim!" The softest things are 
said in wliispers. The Metliodist was 
about to deliver the benediction. 

"i^ire !" 

A red cleft in the heart of the mid- 
night—a murky shroud of dun and dark 
tliat smelt of suli)hur — a sudden uprear- 
ing of staggering steeds and staggering 
riders — a wild, pitiful panic of spectres 
who had encountered tlie unknown — and 
fifty terrible men dashed down to the 
charge. Why follow the deadly work 
under tlie sky and the stars. It was 
providence fulfilling a voav — fate restor- 
ing the equilibrium of justice— justice 
vindicating the supremacy of its immor- 
tal logic. Those who came to rob had 
been a scourge more dreaded thau the 
pestilence— more insatiate than a famine. 
Defying alike civil and martial law, 
they had preyed alternately upon the 
^jcople and the soldiers. They were 
desperadoes and marauders of the worst 
type, feared and hated or both. Beyond 
a few scattering shots, fired by the bold- 
est of them in retreat, they made no 
fight. Tlie dead were not buried. As 
the regiment moved on toward San An- 
tonio, thirty-nine could have been 
counted lying out in the grass — booted 
and spurred, and waiting the Judgment 
Day. 



CHAPTER IV. 
San Antonio, in the f idl drift of the 
tide wliich flowed in from Mexico, was 
first an island and afterwards an oasis. 
To the hungry and war-worn soldiers 
of She LB r's expedition it was a Para- 
dise. Mingo, tlie uujiaralleled host of 
Mingo's Hotel, was the guardian angel, 
but there was no terror in his looks, nor 
any flaming sword in his hand. Here, 
everthing that European markets could 
afford, was found in abundance. Cotton, 
magnificent even in its overthrow, had 
chosen this last spot as the city of its 



refu^ge and its caresses. Fugitive Gen- 
erals had gathered here, and fugitive 
Senators, and fugitive Governors, and 
fugitives desperadoes, as well, men sen- 
tentious of speech and quick of pistol 
practice. These last had taken imme- 
diate possession of the city, and were 
rioting in the old royal fashion, sitting 
in the laps of courtesans and drinking 
mnes fresh through the blockade from 
France. Those passers-by who jeered 
at them as they went to and fro re- 
ceived a fusillade for their folly. Seven 
even had been killed— seven good Tex- 
an soldiers — and a great fear had fallen 
upon the place, this antique, half-Mexi- 
can city whicli had seen Fannin's new 
Thermopylae, and the black Spanish 
death-flag wind itself up into the Alamo 
When the smoke had cleared away and 
the powder-pall had been lifted, the 
black had become crimson. 

First a speck and then a vulture, until 
the streets had become dangerous with 
desperadoes. They had plundered a 
dozen stores,had sacked and burnt a com- 
missary train, had levied aprestamonpon 
the citizens, and had gone one night to 
" smoke out Tom Hindman," in their 
rough border dialect. Less fortunate 
than Pntnam, they found the wolf's den, 
and the wolf was within, but he showed 
his teeth and made fight. They ham- 
mered at his door furiously. A soft, 
musical voice called out : 

"What do you want f 

Hindman was a small man, having 
the will and the courage of a Highland- 
er. Eloquent of speech, cool, a collo- 
quial swordsman whose steel had poi- 
son on it from point to hilt, audacious 
in plot, imperturbable in fi.nesse, gray- 
eyed, proud at times to isolation, un- 
successful in the field, and incomparable 
in the cabinet, it was this manner of 
a man who had called out from behind 
his barricade. 

The leader of the attacking party an- 
swered him : 

"It is said that you have dealt in cot- 
ton, that you have gold, that you are 
leaving the country. We have come for 
the gold— that is all." 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



17 



"Indeed!" and the soft voice was 
strangely harsh and guttural uovv. 
"Then, since you have come for the gold, 
suppose you take the gold. In the ab- 
sence of all law, might makes right." 

He spoke to them not another word 
that night, but no man advanced to the 
attack upon the building, and when the 
daylight came, Shelby was in posses- 
sion of the city. A deputation of citi- 
zens had traveled twenty miles that day 
to his camp, and besought him to haste:.i 
forward, that their lives and their prop- 
erty might be saved. The camp was in 
deep sleep, for the soldiers had traveled 
far, but they mustered to the shrill 
bugle call, and rode on through the long 
night afterwards, for honor and for 
duty. 

Discipline is a stern, chaste queen — 
beautiful at times as Semiramis, 
ferocious as Medea. Her hands 
are those of the priest and the ex- 
ecutioner. They excommunicate, which 
is a bandage over the eyes and a 
platoon of musketry; they make the 
sign of the cross, which is the acquittal 
of a drum-head court-martial. Most 
generally the excommunications out- 
number the genuflections. 

D. A. Williams did provost duty on 
one side of the river, A. W. Slayback up- 
on the other. What slipped through the 
hands of the first fell into those of the 
last. What escaped both, fell into the 
water. Some men are born to be shot, 
some to be hung, and some to be drown- 
ed. Even desperadoes have this fatality 
in common with the Christians, and 
thus in the ranks of the plunderers 
there is predestination. Peace came 
upon the city as the balm of a southeast 
trade-wind, and after the occupation 
there was an ovation. Women walked 
forth as if to a festival. The Plaza 
transformed itself into a parterre. 
Koses bloomed in the manes of the 
horses — these were exotic ; roses bloom- 
ed in the faces of the maidens— these 
were divine. After Cann;B there was 
Capua. Shelby had read of Hannibal, 
the Carthagenian, and had seen Hanni- 
bal the elephant, and so in his mind" 

3A 



there was no more comparison between 
the battle and the town than there was 
between the man and tlie animal. He 
would rest a little, much, many glad and 
sunshiny days, iilled full of dalliance, 
and dancing, and music. 

Mingo's Hotel from a cloister had be- 
come to be a cantonment. It was noisy 
like a hive, vocal like a morning in May. 
Serenading parties improvised them- 
selves. Jake Connor led them, an ar- 
tillery ofScer, who sang like Mario and 
fought.like Victor Emmanuel. In his ex- 
tremes he was Italian. On the edge of 
all this languor and love, discipline, like 
a fringe, arrayed itself. Patrols pa- 
raded the streets, sentinels stood at the 
corners, from post to post martial feet 
made time,and in the midst of a flood of 
defeat, disaster, greed, overthrow, and 
rendingasunder, there was one ark which 
floated hither and thither, armed in 
a fashion unknown to Noah, 
bearing a strange barred banner at the 
fore — the Banner of the Bars. When 
its Ararat was found there was no longer 
any more Ark. 

On the evening of the second day of 
occu])ation, an ambulance drew up in 
front of the Mingo House. Besides the 
driver, there alighted an old man, aged, 
bent, spent with fatigue, and dusty as a 
foot soldier. Shelby sat in the balcony 
watching him, a light of recognition in 
his calm, cold eyes. The old man en- 
tered, approached the register, and wrote 
his name. One having curiosity enough 
to look over his shoulder might have 
read: 

"William Thompson." 

Fair enough name and honest. The 
old man went to his room and loclved 
his door. The windows of his room 
looked out upon the plaza. In a few 
moments it was noticed that the blinds 
were drawn, the curtains down. Old 
men need air and sunlight ; they do not 
commence hibernating in June. 

When he had drawn his blinds, Slielby 
called lip Connor. 

"Get your baud together, Lieutenant," 
was the order. 

"For what. General V 



sMelby's expedition To MEXICO ', 



"For a serenade." 

"A serenade to whom V 

"No matter, but a serenade just the 
same. Order, also, as you go out by 
headquarters, that all the men not on 
duty, get under arms immediately and 
parade in front of the balcony." 

The assembly blew a moment after- 
wards, and as the sun set a serried mass 
of soldiers, standing shoulder to shoul- 
der, were iu line, waiting. Afterwards 
the band marched into the open place 
reserved for it, Connor leading. 

Shelby pointed up to the old man's 
window, smiling. 

"Play Hail to the Chief," he said. 

It was done. No answering signals 
at the window. The blinds from a look 
of silence liad put on one of selfish- 
ness. 

Shelby spoke again : 

"Try 'Dixie,' boys. If the old man 
were dead it would bring him to life 
again." 

The sweet, familiar strains rose up, 
rapid and exultant, filling all the air 
with life and all the pulses with blood. 
When they had died with the sunset, 
there was still no answer. 

Shelby spoke again : 

"That old man np there is Kirby 
Smith ; I would know him among a 
thousand. Shout for him until you are 
hoarse." 

A great roar burst forth like a tem- 
pest, shaking the house, and in the full 
torrent of the tide, and borne aloft as an 
awakening cry, could be heard the name 
of "Smith !" "Smith !" 

The blinds flew open, the curtains 
were rolled up, and in i^lain view of this 
last remnant of his magnificent army of 
fifty thousand men. Gen. E. Kirby 
Smith came forth undisguised, a look 
full of eagerness and wonderment on 
his weary and saddened face. He did 
not understand the greeting, the music, 
the armed men, the eves that had pene- 
trated his disguise, the shouts that had 
invaded his retreat. Threatened with 
death by roving and predatory bands 
from Shreveport to San Antonio, he 
knew not whether one friend remained 



to him of all the regiments he had fed, 
clothed, flattered, and left unfought. 

Shelby rose np in his place, a great re- 
spect and tenderness at work in his 
heart for this desolate and abandoned 
man who had lived the military life that 
was in him, and who — a stranger in a 
land filled full of his soldiers — had not so 
much as a broken flag staff to lean upon. 
Given not overmuch to speaking, and 
brief of logic and rhetoric, he won the 
exile when he said to him : 

" General Smith, you are the ranking 
officer in the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
ment. These are your soldiers, and we 
are here to report to you. Command, 
and we obey ; lead us and we will follow. 
In this public manner, and before all 
San Antonio, with music and with ban- 
ners, we come to proclaim your arrival 
in the midst of that little band which 
knows neither dishonor nor surrender. 
You were seeking concealment, and you 
have found a noontide of soldierly obe- 
dience and devotion. You were seeking 
the night and the obscurity of self- 
appointed banishment and exile, and 
you have found guards to attend you, 
and the steadfast light of patriotism to 
make your pathway plain. We bid you 
good morning instead of good night, and 
await, as of old, your further orders." 

Shouts arose upon shouts, triumphal 
music filled all the air again; thrice 
Smith essayed to speak, and thrice his 
tears mastered him. In an hour he was 
in the ranks of his happy soldiers, as 
safe and as full of confidence as a king 
upon his throne. 

There came also to San Antonio, before 
the march was resumed, an Englishman 
who was a mystery and an enigma. 
Some said he was crazy, and he might 
have been, for the line of demarkatiou 
is so narrow and so fine between the 
sound and the unsound mind, that ana- 
lysis, howeyer acute, fails often to ascer- 
tain where the first ends and the last 
begins. This Englishman, however, was 
difierent from most insane people in 
this — that he was an elegant and accom- 
plished linguist, an extensive traveler, a 
soldier who had seen service in Algeria 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



19 



with the French, and in the Crimea with 
the British, and a himier who had Ivuown 
Jules Girard and Gordon Cunnning-. His 
views upon suicide were as novel as they 
were logically presented. His knowledge 
of chemistry, and the intricate yet fascin- 
ating science of toxicology, sui-prised all 
who conversed with him. He was a man 
of the middle age, seemingly rich, re- 
fined in all of his habits and tastes, and 
singularly winning and fascinating m 
his intercoiu'se with the men. Dudley, 
that eminent Kentucky physician,known 
of most men in America, declared, after 
the observations of a long life, that 
every man born of a woman was crazy 
upon some one subject. This English- 
man, therefore, if he was crazy at all, 
was crazy upon the subject of Railroad 
Accidents. He had a feverish desire to 
see one, be in one, enjoy one, and run 
the risk of being killed by one. He had 
traveled, he said, over two continents, 
pursuing a phantom which always elud- 
ed him. Now before and now behind 
him, and then again upon the route he 
had just passed over, he had never so 
much as seen an engine ditched. As for 
a real, first class collision, he had loug 
ago despaired of its enjoyment. His talk 
never ended of wrecked cars and shat- 
tered locomotives. With a sigh he 
abandoned his hopes of a luxury so pe- 
culiar and unnatural, and came as a 
private to an expedition which 
was taking him away from the 
land of railroads. Later, this 
strange Englishman, this travel- 
er, linguist, soldier, piiilosopher, chem- 
ist — this monomaniac, too, if you will — 
was foremost in the battle of the Sali- 
nas, fighting splendidly, and well to the 
front. A musket ball killed his horse. 
He mounted another and continued to 
press forward. The second bullet shat- 
tered his left leg from the knee to the 
ankle. It was not known that he was 
struck until a third ball, entering the 
breast fairly, knocked him clear and 
clean from the saddle, dying. He lived 
until the sun went down — an hoiu' and 
more. Before he died, however, the 
strangest part of his life was to come 



— that of his confession. When relat- 
ed, in its proper sequence, it will bo 
found how prone tlie best of us 
are to forget that it is the 
heart which is oftener diseased than 
the head. He had suffered much in his 
stormy lifetime, had sinned not a little, 
and had died as a hunted wolf dies, vic- 
iously and at bay. 

At San Antonio, also. Governor Rey- 
nolds and Gen. Magruder joined the ex- 
pedition. The first was a man whose 
character had to be tried in the fiery 
crucible of military strife and disaster, 
that it might stand out -grand, massive 
and indomitable. He was a statesman 
and a soldier. Much residence abroad 
had made him an accomplished diplo- 
matist. He spoke three foreign lan- 
guages fluently. To the acute analysis 
of a cultivated and expanded mind, he 
had added the exacting logic of the law. 
Poetry, and all the natural and outward 
forms of beauty affected him like other 
imaginative men, but in his philosophy 
lie discarded the ornate for the strong, 
the Oriental architecture for the Corin- 
thian. Revolution stood revealed before 
him, stripped of all its glare and tinsel. 
As a skillful physician, he laid his hand 
upon the pulse of the war and told the 
fluctuations of the disease from the 
symptoms of the patient. He knew 
the condition of the Confederacy 
better than its President, and w^orked 
like a giant to avert the catasti'ophe. 
Shams fled before him as shadows be- 
fore the sun. He heard no voice but of 
patriotism, knew no word but devotion, 
had no ambition but for his country, 
blessed no generals without victorious 
battle fields, and exiled himself before 
he would surrender. His faith was spot- 
less in the sight of that God of battles 
in Avhom he put his trust, and his record 
shone out through all the long, dark 
days as a light that was set upon a hill. 

Magruder was a born soldier, dead now 
and gone to heaven. He had a figure like 
a Mars divested of immortality. He 
would fight all day and dance all night. 
He wrote love songs and sang them, and 
won an heiress rich beyond comparison. 



20 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



The wittiest man in the old army, Gen. 
Scott, adored him. His speech had 
a lisp that was attractive, in- 
asmuch as it lingered over its pans and 
caressed its rhetoric. Six feet in height, 
and straight as Tecumseh, Magruder, 
in full regimentals, was the handsomest 
soldier in the Confederacy. Not the 
fair, blonde beauty of the city, odorous 
of perfume and faultless in tailor-fash- 
ion, but a great, bronzed Ajax, mighty 
thewed, and as strong of hand as 
strong of digestion. He loved women, 
too, and was beloved by them. After 
Galveston, Avith blood iipon his gar- 
ments, a bullet wound upon his body, 
and victory upon his standards, he 
danced until there was daybreak in tlie 
sky and sunlight upon the earth. From 
the fight to the frolic it had been fifty- 
eight hours since he had slept. A boy 
at sixty-four, penniless, with a family 
in Europe, homeless, bereft of an avo- 
cation he had grown gray in following, 
having no country and no calling, he, 
too, had come to liis favorite officer to 
choose Ms bivouac and receive his pro- 
tection . The ranks opened eagerly for 
this wonderful recruit, who carried in 
his old-young head so many memories 
of the land towards wliicli all were jour- 
neying. 



CHAPTER V. 

From San Antonio to Eagle Pass was 
a long march made dreary by mesquite 
and chapparal. In the latter war lag- 
gards aboimded, sleeping by day and 
devouring by night. These hung upon 
the flanks and iipon the rear of the col- 
umn, relying more upon force than strat- 
agem — more upon surprises for capture, 
than sabre work or pistol pi^actice. Re- 
turning late one night from extra duty, 
D. A. Williams with ten men, met a cer- 
tain Captain Bradford Avith thirty-two. 
AVilliams had seven mules that Brad- 
ford wanted, and to get them it was ne- 
cessary to take them. This he tried 
from an ambush, carefully sought and 
cunningly planned— an ambush all the 



more deadly because the superb soldier 
Williams was riding campvA^ard under 
the moon, thinking more of women than 
of war. 

In front, and back from the road upon 
the right, was a clump of mesauite too 
thick almost for a centipede to crawl 
through. W^hen there was water, a 
stream bounded one edge of this under- 
growth; when there was no Avater, the 
bed of this stream Avas a great ditch. 
When theambnshment was had, instead 
of water there Avas sand. On guard, 
however, more from the force of habit 
than from the sense of danger, Williams 
had sent a young soldier forward to re- 
connoitre, and to stay forward, watching 
well upon the right hand and upon the 
left. George R. Cruzen was his name, 
and a braA^er and better never awoke to 
the sound of the reveille. Cruzen had 
passed the mesquite, passed beyond the 
line of its shadows, passed out into the ' 
glare of a full harvest moon, Avhen a 
stallion neighed fiercely to the right of 
him. He halted by instinct, and drew 
himself together, listening. Thanks to 
the sand, his horse's feet had made no 
noise; thanks to the stallion, he had 
stopped before the open jaws of the 
defile had closed upon their prey. He 
rode sloAvly back into the chapparal, 
dismounted, tied his horse, and advanced 
on toot to the brink of the ravine just 
Avhere it skirted the edge of the brush. 
As he held his breath he counted thirty 
stalwart men crouching in the moon- 
light. Two he did not see. These were 
on guard where the road crossed the dry 
bed of the creek. Cruzen's duty was 
plain before him. Regaining his horse 
speedily, he galloped back to where 
Williams had halted for a bit of rest. 
" Short greeting serA^es in time of strife," 
and Cruzen stated the case so plainly 
that Williams could almost see the men 
as they Avaited there for his little band. 
He bade his soldiers dismount, take a 
pistol in each hand, and follow him. Be- 
fore doing this the horses and the led 
mules were securely fastened. 

Stealing round the point of the chap- 
paral noiselessly as the flight of birds 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



21 



througli the nir, lie came upon the left 
flauk of the marauders, upon that flank 
which had been left unprotected and 
ung-uarded. He was within five paces 
of them before he was discovered. 
They fired a point blank volley full in 
his face, but his detachment fell forward 
and escaped untouched. As they arose 
they charged. The melee was close and 
suffocating. Three of Williams' sol- 
diers died in the ravine, two scrambled 
out wounded to the death, one carries 
yet a bullet in his body. But he tri- 
umphed. Never was there a fight so 
small, so rapid and so desperate. Cruzen 
killed three. Cam. Boucher three, Wil- 
liams four, Eas. Woods five with one 
pistol, a heavy English dragoon, and 
other soldiers of the ten two apiece. 
Out of the thirty-two, twenty-seven lay 
dead in a space three blankets might 
have covered. Shelbj^ heard the firing, 
and sent swift succor back, but the ter- 
rible work was done. Williams rarely 
left a fight half-finished. His deeds 
that night were the talk of the camp for 
manj^ long marches thereafter. 

The next day at noon, while haltlug 
for dinner, two scouts from the rear — 
James Kirtley and James Rudd— gal- 
loped in with the news that a Federal 
force, three thousand strong, with a six 
gun battery, was marcMog to overtake 
the column. 

"Who commands'?" asked Shelby. 

"Col. Johnson," replied Rudd. 

"How far in the rear did you see him'?" 

"About seventeen miles." 

"Mount your horse again, Eudd, you 
and Kirtley, and await fm^ther orders." 

Shelby then called one who had been 
his ordnance master,Maj. Jos. Moreland. 
Moreland came, polite, versatile, clothed 
all in red and gold lace. Fit for any er- 
rand, keen for any frolic, fond of any 
adventure so only there were wine and 
shooting in it, Moreland reported : 

"I believe," said Shelbj^ " you can 
turn the prettiest period, make the gran- 
dest bow, pay the handsomest compli- 
ment, and drink the pleasantest toast 
of any man in my command. Take 
these two soldiers with you, ride to the 



rear seventeen miles, seek an interview 
with Colonel Johnson, and give him 
tills." 

It was a note which he handcnl him — 
a note which read as follows : 

"Colonel: My scouts inform me 
that you have about three thousand 
men, and that you are looking for me. 
I have only one thousand men, and yet 
I should like to make your ac- 
quaintance. I will probably march 
from my present camp about ten 
miles further to-day, halting on the high 
road between San Antonio and Eagle 
Pass. Should you desire to pay me a 
visit, you will find me at home until day 
after to-morrow." 

Moreland took the message and bore 
it speedily to its destination. Amid 
many profound bows, and a multitude 
of graceful and complimentary words, 
he delivered it. Johnson was a gentle- 
man, and dismissed the embassy v^th 
many promises to be present. He did 
not come. That night he went into 
camp five miles to the rear, and rested 
there all the next day. True to his 
word, Shelby Avaited for him patiently, 
and made every preparation for a stub- 
born fight. Once afterwards Col. John- 
son came near enough to indicate busi- 
ness, but lie halted again at the eleventh 
hour and refused to pick up the gage of 
battle. Perhaps he was nearer right 
than his antagonist. The war was over, 
and the lives of several hundred men 
were in his keeping. He could afford to 
be lenient in this, the last act of the 
drama, and he was. Whatever his mo- 
tives, the challenge remained uaaccept- 
ed. As for Shelby, he absolutely prayed 
for a meeting. The old ardor of battle 
broke out like a hidden lire, and burnt 
up every other consideration. He would 
have staked all and risked all upon the 
issue of the fight — one man against 
three. 

The march went rapidly on. But one 
adventure occurred after Williams' 
brief battle, and that happened in this 
wise: Some stores belonging to the 
families of Confederate soldiers had 
been robbed by renegades and deserters 



22 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



a few hours previous to Shelby's arrival 
in the neighborhood. A delegation of 
women came to his camp seeking resti- 
tution. He gave them retribution. Elev- 
en miles from the pluudered liabitations 
was a rugged range of hills, inaces- 
sible to most soldiers who had ridden 
and raided about its vicinity. Here, as 
another Eob Hoy, the leader of the rob- 
ber band had liis rendezvous. This band 
numbered, all told, nearly three hun- 
dred, and a motley band it was, com- 
posed of Mexicans, deserters from both 
armies, Indians, men from Arizona and 
California, and desperate fugitives from 
justice, whose names were changed, and 
whose habitations had been forgotten. 
To these hills the property had been 
taken, and to these hills went Slayback 
with two hundred men. He found the 
goods ])iled up breast high, and in front 
of them, to defend them, were about 
two hundred robbers. They scarcely 
waited for a tire. Slayback charged 
them with a great rush, and with the 
revolver solely. The nature of the 
grouud alone prevented the attack fi-om 
becoming an extermination. Slayback 
finished his work, as he always did, 
thoroughly and well, and returned to 
the command without the loss of a man. 

About this time three men came to 
Shelby and represented themselves as 
soldiers of Lee's army who were aban- 
doning the country, and Avho wished to 
go wath him to Mexico. They were en- 
rolled at once and assigned to a compa- 
ny. In a day or two some suspicions 
were aroused from the fact of their be- 
ing well acquainted with the Spanish 
language, speaking it fluently upon 
every occasion when an opportunity of- 
fered. Now, Lee's soldiers had but 
scant time for the acquirement of such 
accomplishments, and it became at last 
a question of some doubt as to the truth 
of the statements of these three men. 
To expose them fully it cost one of them 
his arm, the other two their lives, to- 
gether Avith the lives of thirteen Mexi- 
cans who, guiltless in the intention, yet 
sinned in the act. 

When within three days' journey of 



the Kio Grande, Gen. Smith expressed a 
desire to precede the regiment into Mex- 
ico, and asked for an escort. This was 
cheerfully furnished, and Langhorue re- 
ceived his orders to guard the com- 
mander-in-chief of the Trans-Mississip- 
pi Department safely to the river, and 
as far beyond as the need might be, if 
it were to the Pacific ocean. There was 
not a drop of the miser's blood in Shel- 
by's veins. In everything he was prodi- 
gal — of his money, when he had any, of 
his courage, of his blood, of his 
men, of his succor, of his in- 
fluence, of his good deeds to 
his comrades and his superior officers, 
and of his charities to others not so 
strong and so dauntless as himself. With 
Smith, there went also, Magruder, 
Prevost, Wilcox, Bee, and a score of 
other oflficers, who had business with 
certain French and Mexican officers at 
Pridras Negras, and who were tired of 
the trained marching and the regular 
encampments of the disciplined soldiers. 

Langhorne did his duty well. Eigid 
in ail etiquette, punctillious in the per- 
forformance of every obligation, as 
careful of his charge as he could have 
been of a post of honor in the front of 
battle. Smith said to him, when he bade 
him good-bye : 

"With an army of such soldiers as 
Shelby has, and this last sad act in the 
drama of exile would have been left un- 
recorded." 



CHAPTER VL 
Eagle Pass is on one side of the Eio 
Grande river, Piedras Negras upon the 
other. The names indicate the countries. 
Wherever there is an American there is 
always an eagle. Two thousand Mexi- 
can soldiers held Piedras Negras — fol- 
lowers of Jaurez— quaint of costume and 
piratical of aspect. They saw the head 
of Shelby's column dehoudiinfj from the 
plateau above the river— they saw the 
artillery planted and commanding the 
town— they saw the trained soldiers 
form up rapidly to the right and left, 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



23 



and tliey wondered grreatly thereat. No 
boats would come over. Not a skiff ven- 
tured beyond the sliade of the Mexican 
shore, and not a sign of life, except the 
waving of a blanket at intervals, or the 
glitter of a sombrero through the streets, 
and the low, squat adobes. 

How to get over was the question. 
The river was high and rapid. 

" Who can speak Spanish V asked 
Shelby. 

Only one man answered— him of the 
seuorita of Senora — a recruit who had 
joined at Corsicana, and who had 
neither name nor lineage. 

"Can yon swim f asked Shelby. 

"Well." 

"Suppose you try for a skiff, that we 
may open negotiations with the town." 

"I dare not. I am afraid to go over 
alone." 

Shelby opened his eyes. For the first 
time in his life such answer had been 
made by a soldier. He scarcely knew 
what the man was saying. 

" Afraid F This with a kind of half 
pity. "Then stand aside." This with a 
cold contempt. Afterwards his voice 
rang out with its old authority. 

"Volunteers for the venture— swim- 
mers to the front." Fifty stalwart men 
dashed down to the water, dismounted 
— waiting. He chose but two — Dick 
Berry and George Winship — two daunt- 
less young hearts fit for any forlorn hope 
beneath the sun. The stream was wide, 
but tliey plunged in. No matter for the 
drowning. They took their chances as 
they took the waves. It was only 
one more hazard of battle. Before 
starting, Shelby had spoken to Collins: 

"Load mth canister. If a hair of 
their heads is hurt, not one stone upon 
another shall be left in Piedias Ne- 
gras." 

The current was strong and beat the 
men down, but they mastered it, and 
laid hands upon a skifif whose owner did 
not come to claim it. In an hoiir a flag 
of truce was carried into tiie to^Tii, 
borne by Col. Frank Gordon, having at 
his back twenty-five men with side- 
arms alone. 



Governor Biesca, of the State of Co- 
ahnila, half soldier and half civilian, 
was in comiunnd — a most polished and 
elegant man, who quoted his smiles and 
italicised his gestures. Surrounded by 
a glittering staff, he dashed into the 
Plaza and received Gordon with much 
of ])omp and circumstance. Further on 
in the day Shelby came over, when a 
long and confidential interview was held 
between the American and the Mexican 
— between the General and the Govern- 
or—one blunt, abrupt, a little haughty 
and suspicious — the other suave, volu- 
ble, gracious in promises, and magnifi- 
cent in offers and inducements. 

Many good days before this interview 
—before the terrible tragedy at that 
Washington theatre where a President 
fell dying in the midst of his army and 
his capital — Abraham Lincoln had made 
an important revelation, indirectly, to 
some certain Confederate chieftains. 
This came through General Frank P. 
Blaix to Shelby, and was to this effect : 
The struggle will soon be over. Over- 
whelmed by the immense resources of 
the United States, the Southern govern- 
ment is on the eve of an utter collapse. 
There will be a million of men disband- 
ed who have been inured to the license 
and the passions of war, and who may 
be troublesome, if nothing more. An 
open road will be left through Texas for 
all who may wish to enter Mexico. The 
Confederates can take with them a por- 
tion or all of the arms and war muni- 
tions now held by them, and when the 
days of their enlistment are over, such 
Federal soldiers as may desire shall also 
be permitted to join the Confederates 
across the Rio Grande, uniting after- 
wards in an effortto drive out the French 
and re-establish Juarez and the Repub- 
lic. Such guarantees had Shelby re- 
ceived, and while on the march from 
Corsicana to Eagle Pass, a multitude of 
messages overtook him from Federal 
regiments and brigade?, begging him 
to await their arrival — a period made 
dependent upon their disbandment. 
They wished above all things to take 
service with him, and to begin again a 



24 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



war upoa imperialism after tlie war up- 
on slavery. 

Governor Biesca exhibited, liis autlior- 
ity as Governor of Coahuila, and as 
Commander-in-Cliief of Coaliuila, Tam- 
aulipas and New Leon, and ofi'ered 
Shelby the military control of these three 
States, retaining to himself only the 
civil. He required of him but one thing, 
a full, free and energetic support of 
Benito Juarez. He suggested, also, that 
Shelby should remain for several months 
at Piedras Negras, recruiting his regi- 
ment up to a division, and that when he 
felt himself sufficiently strong to ad- 
vance, he should move against Mon- 
terey, held by General Jeanningros, of 
the Third French Zouaves, and some 
two thousand soldiers of the Foreign 
Legion. 

The picture, as painted by this fer'sdd 
Mexican, \va,s a most attractive one, and 
to a man like Shelby, so ambitious of 
military tame, and so filled with the ro- 
mance and the adventure of his situa- 
tion, it was doubly so. At least he was 
a devout Liberal. Having but little re- 
spect for Mexican promises or Mexican 
civilization, he yet knew that a 
corps of twenty thousand Americans 
could be easily recruited, and that after 
he once got a foothold in the country, 
he could preserve it for all time. His 
ideas were'all of conquest. If he dream- 
ed at all, his dreams were of Cortez. 
He saw the golden gates of Sonora roll- 
ed back at his approach, and in his vis- 
ions, perhaps, there were glimpses of 
those wonderful mines guarded even 
now as the Persians guarded the sacred 
fire of theu' gods. 

The destiny of the Expedition was in 
this interview. Looking back now 
tlirough the placid vista of the peace 
years, there are but few of all that rug- 
ged band who would speak out to-day 
as they did about the council board on 
the morrow after the American and the 
Mexican had shaken bauds and went 
their separate ways. 

This council was long, and earnest, 
and resolute. Men made brief speeches, 
but they counted as so much gold in the 



scales that had the weighing of the fu- 
ture. H Shelby was more elaborate and 
more eloquent, that was his wont, be 
sure there were sights his fervid fancy 
saw that to others were unrevealed, and 
that evolving itself from the darkness 
and the doubts of the struggle ahead, 
was the fair form of a new empire, made 
precious by knightly deeds, and gracious 
witli romantic perils and achievements. 

Shelby spoke thus to his followers, 
when silence had fallen, and men were 
face to face with the future : 

" It you are all of my mind, boys, and 
will take your chances along Avith 
me, it is Juarez and the Republic from 
this on until we die here, one by one, or 
win a kingdom. We have the nucleus 
of a fine army — we have cannon, mus- 
kets, ammunition, some good prospects 
for recruits, a way open to Sonora, 
and according to the faith that is in us 
will be the measure of our loss or vic- 
tory. Determine for yourselves. You 
know Biesca's offer. What he fails to 
perform we will perform for ourselves, 
so that when the game is played out 
there will be scant laughter over any 
Americans trapped or slain by treach- 
ery." 

There were other speeches made, 
briefer than this one by the leader, and 
some little of whispering apart and in 
eagerness. At last Elliott stood up— the 
spokesman. He had been a fighting 
Colonel of the Old Brigade, he had been 
wounded four times, he was very stern 
and very true, and so the lot fell to him 
to make answer. 

"General, if you order it, we will fol- 
low you into the Pacific Ocean ; but we 
are all Imperialists, and would prefer 
service under Maximilian." 

*Ts this j^our answer, men ?" and Shel- 
b^^'s voice had come back to its old 
cheery tones. 

"It is." 

"Final r 

"As the grave." 

"Then it is mine, too. Henceforth we 
will fight under Maximilian. To-mor- 
row, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the 
march shall commence for Monterey. 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



25 



Let no man repine. You have chosen 
tlie Empire, and, perhaps, it is well, but 
bad or good, yoiu' fate shall be my fate, 
and your fortune my fortune." 

The comrade spoke then. The soldier 
had spoken at Marshall, at Corsicana, at 
San Antonio, and in the long interview 
held with Biesca. Time has revealed 
many things since that meeting in June, 
1865— many things that might have 
been done and well done, had the frank 
speech of Elliott remained unspoken- 
had the keen feeling of sympathy be- 
tween the French and the Confederates 
been less romantic. Shelby was wiser 
then than any man who followed him, 
and strong enough to have forced them 
in the pathway that lay before Ids eyes 
so well revealed, but he would not for 
the richest province in Mexico. And as 
the conference closed, he said, in pass- 
ing out : 

"Poor, proud fellows— it is principle 
with them, and they had rather starve 
under the Empire than feast in a Repub- 
lic. Lucky, indeed, for many of them 
if to famine there is not added a fusil- 
hij^le." 

Governor Biesca's bland face blankly 
fell when Shelby announced to him the 
next morning the decision of the confer- 
ence. He had slept upon the happiness 
of a coup cV etat; when he awoke it 
was a phantasy. No further argu- 
ments availed him, and he made none. 
When a Mexican runs his race, and 
comes face to face with the inevitable, 
he is the most indifferent man in the 
world. A muttered bueana, a folded 
cigarrito, a bow to the invisible, and he 
has made his peace with his conscience 
and his God, and lies or sighs in the 
days that come after as the humor of 
the fancy takes him. 

Biesca had all of his nation's noncha- 
lance, and so, when for his master's ser- 
vice he could not get men, he tried for 
munitions of war. Negotiations for the 
purchase of the arms, the artillery, and 
the ammunition were begun at once. A 
prestamo was levied. Familiarity with 
this custom had made him an adept. 
Being a part of the national education, 

4A 



it was not expected that one so high in 
rank as a Governor would be ignorant 
of its rudiments. 

Between Piedras Negras and Mon- 
terey the country was almost a wilder- 
ness. A kind of debatable ground — the 
robbers had raided it, the Liberals liad 
plundered it, and the French had deso- 
lated it. As Shelby was to pass over it, 
he could not carry with him his teams, 
Vis wagons, his artillery, and his supply 
trains. Besides, he had no money to 
buy food, even if food was to be had, 
and as it had been decided to abandon 
Juarez, it was no longer necessary to re- 
tain the war material. Hence the pres- 
tamo. A list of the merchants was 
made ; the amount assessed to each was 
placed opposite his name ; au adjutant 
with a file of soldiers, called upon the 
interested party; bowed to him; wished 
him happiness and high fortune ; point- 
ed to the ominous figures, and waited. 
Generally they did not wait long. As 
between the silver and the guard-house, 
the merchant chose the former, paid his 
toll, cursed the Yankees, made the sign 
of the cross, and went to sleep. 

By dint of much threatening, and 
much mild persuasiveness — such persua- 
siveness as bayonets give — sixteen thou- 
sand dollars were got together, and, for 
safety, were deposited in the custom 
house. On the morrow they were to be 
paid out. 

The day was almost a tropical one. 
No air blew about the streets, and 
a white glare came over the sands and 
settled as a cloud upon the houses and 
upon the water. The men scattered in 
every direction, careless of consequen- 
ces, and indifferent as to results. The 
cafes were full. Wine and women 
abounded. Beside the bronzed faces of 
the soldiers were the tawny faces of the 
senoritas. In the passage of the drink- 
ing-horns the men kissed the women. 
Great American oaths came out from 
the tiendas, harsh at times, and resonant 
at times. Even in their wickedness they 
were national. 

A tragedy was making head, however, 
in spite of the white glare of the sun, 



z6 



shelby's ExPEinrtON To MKxtco ; 



and the fervid kisses under the 
rose. The tliree men, soldiers of 
Lee's army ostensibly— men who 
had been fed and sheltered— 
were tempting providence beyond the 
prudent point. Having the hearts of 
sheep, they were dealing with lions. To 
their treachery, they were about to add 
bravado— to the magazine they were 
about to apply the torch. 

Tliere is a universal Mexican law 
which ]iialces a brand a bible. From its 
truth there is no appeal. Every horse in 
the country is branded, and every brand 
is entered of record, just as a deed or le- 
gal conveyance. Some of these brands 
are intricate, some unique, some as fan- 
tastic as a jester's cap, some a single let- 
ter of the alphabet, but all legal and 
lawful brands just the same, and good 
to pass muster anywhere so only there 
are alcaldes and sandalled soldiers 
about. Their logic is extremely simple, 
too. You prove the braiul and take the 
horse, no matter who rides him, nor how 
great the need for whip and spur. 

In Shelby's command there were a 
dozen magnificent horses, tit for a king's 
race, who wore a brand of an unusual 
fashion — many-lined and intricate as a 
column of Arabesque. They had been 
obtained somewhere above San Antonio, 
arid had been dealt with as only cavalry 
soldiers know how to deal with horses. 
These the three men wanted. With 
their knowledge of Spanish, they had 
gone among the Mexican soldiers, 
poisoning their minds with tales of 
American rapine and slaughter, depict- 
ing, with not a little of attractive rhet- 
oric, the long and weary march they had 
made with these marauders tliat their 
beloved steeds might not be taken en- 
entirely away from them. 

The Mexicans listened, not from gen- 
erosity, but from greed, and swore a 
great oath by the Vuginthat the gringos 
should deliver up every branded horse 
across the Rio Grande. 

Ike and Dick Berry rode each a brand- 
ed horse, and so did Armistead, Kirtley, 
Winship, Henry Chiles, John Rudd, 
Yowell, and two-score more, perhaps, 



equally fearless, and equally ignorant of 
any other law besides the law of posses- 
sion. 

The afternoon dull was over. The 
hot glare was still upon the earth and 
the sky. If anything, the noise from 
the cafes came louder and merrier. 
Where the musical voices were the 
sweetest, were the places where the wo- 
men abounded with disheveled hair, 
and eyes of tropical dusk. 

lk(^ Berry had ridden one of these 
branded horses into the street, running 
by regimental headquarters, and sat 
with one leg crossed upon the saddle, 
lazily smoking. He was a low, squat 
Hercules, free of speech and frank of 
nature. In battle he always laughed; 
only when eating was he serious. What 
revereiice he had came from the appe- 
tite. The crumbs that fell from his 
long, yellow beard were his benediction. 

Other branded horses were hitched 
about,easy of access and unnoted of own- 
er. The three men came into the street, 
behind them a yonng Mexican Captain 
handsome as Adonis. This Captain led 
tliuty-five soldiers, with eyes to thfe 
front and guns at a trail. 

Jim Wood lounged to the door of a 
cafe and remarked them as they filed by. 
As he returned, he spoke to Martin Krit- 
zer, toying with an Indian girl, beaded 
and beautiful : 

"They are in skirmishins' order. Old 
Joe has delivered the arms; it maybe 
we shall take them back again." 

One of the men went straight up to 
Ike Berry, aKS he sat cross-legged upon 
his horse, and laid his hand upon the 
horse's bridle. 

Ike knew him and spoke to him cheer- 
ily : 

"How now, comrade 1" 

Short answer, and curt : 

" Tliis is ray horse ; he wears my 
brand ; I have followed him to Mexico. 
Dismount !" 

A long white wreath of smoke curled 
up from Ike's meerschaum in surprise. 
Even the pipe entered a protest. The 
old battle-smile came back to his face, 
and those \yho were nearest and knew 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAK OF TIIK WAR. 



27 



luni best, kuew that a dead man would 
soon lay upon the street. He knocked 
the ashes from his pipe musingly ; he 
put the disengaged foot back gently in 
tlie stirrup ; he rose up all of a sudden 
tlie very incarnation of murder ; there 
Avas a white gleam in the air ; a heavy 
saber that lifed itself up and circled, 
and wLen it fell a stalwart arm 
was shredded away, as a girl might 
sever a sill^eu chain or the tendrils of a 
vine. The ghastly stump, not over four 
inches fi'om the shoulder, spouted blood 
at every heart throb. The man fell as 
one paralyzed. A shout arose. The 
Mexicans spread out like a fan, and 
when the fan closed it had surrounded 
Berry, and Williams, and Kirtley, and 
Collins, and Armistead, and Langhorne, 
and Henry Chiles, and Jim Wood, and 
Kudd, and Moreland, and Boswell, and 
McDougall, and the brothers Kritzer. 
Yowell alone broke through the cordon 
and rushed to Shelby. 

Shelby was sitting iii a saloon discuss- 
ing cognac and Catalan Avith the Eng- 
lishman. On the face of the last there 
was a look of sorrow. Could it have 
been possible that the sombre shadows 
of the Salinas were alieady beginning to 
gather about his* brow"? 

A glance convinced Shelby that Yo well 
Avas m trouble. 
"What is it?" he asked. 
"They are after the horses." 
"What horsesf 

"The branded horses; those obtained 
from the Eosser ranche." 

"Ah ! and after we have delivered the 
arms, too, Mexican like — Mexican like." 
He arose as he spuke and looked out 
upon the street. Some revolA^ers wjere 
being tired. These, in the AA'hite heat of 
tlie afternoon, sounded as the tapping 
of Avoodpeckers. Afterwards a steady 
roar of xilles told how^ the battle Avent. 

"The rally! the rally! -sound the 
rally !" Shelby cried to his bugler, as he 
dashed doAvn to Avheie the Mexicans 
Avere swarming about Beriy aud the 
few men nearest to hiui. "We luiA^e 
eaten of their salt, and they liaAe be- 
trayed us ; Ave have come to them as : 



friends, and they Avould strip us like 
barbarians. It is Avar again — Avar to the- 
knife !" 

At thi.s mouieut the wild, piercing- 
notes of an American bugle Avere heard 
— clear, penetrating, detiant — not<-S that 
told of sore stress among comrades, imd 
pressing need of succoi-. 

The laughter died in the cafvH as a 
night Avind AA^hen the morning comes. 
The bugle sobered all who were drunk 
Avith drink or dalliance. Its A^oice told 
of dauger near and imminent— of a field 
needing harvesters Avho knew hoAV to 
die. 

The men sv, armed out of every door- 
Avay — ])ouied iioni under e\^ery portal 
— flushed, furious, ravenous for blood. 
They saw the Mexicans in the square, 
the peril of Berry and those nearest to 
him, and they asked no f urtlier questions. 
A sudden crasii of reA ol\ ers came first, 
dose and deadly ; a yell, a shout, and 
then a fierce, hot charge. Has. Woods, 
with a short Enfield lifle in his hand, 
stood fair in the street looking up at the 
young Mexican Captain Avith his cold 
gray eyes that had in them never a light 
of pity. As the press gathered about 
him, the rifle crept straight to the front 
and rested there a moment, fixed as fate. 
It looked as if he was aiming at a flow- 
er — the dark oliA'e beauty of the Span- 
iard Avas so superb. 

" Spare h:im !" shouted a dozen 
reckless soldiers in a breath, "he is too 
young and too handsome to die." 

In vain ! A sharp, sudden ring was the 
response; the Captaiu tossed his arms 
high in the air, leaped up suddenly as if 
to catch something aboAe his head, and 
fell foi'ward upon liis face, a corpse. A 
Avail of Avomen arose upon the sultry 
evening — such as maA haA'^e been heard 
in DaATd's household when back fioni 
the tangled brush w(K)d they brought the 
beautiful Absalom. 

"The lil'e upon lijs yi.?ll<>w liuir, 
But not Avitliiu his eyes." 

The Avork that followed Avas ([iiick 
enough aud deadly enough to appal the 
stoutest. Seventeen Mexicans Avere kil- 
led, iucluding the Captain, together with 



2S 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



tlie two Americans who had caused the 
encounter. The third, strange to say, 
recovered from his gliastly wound, and 
can tell to this day, if he still lives, of 
the terrible prowess of that American 
soldier who shredded his arm away as a 
scythe blade might a handful of sum- 
mer wheat. 

A dreadful commotion fell upon Pie- 
dras Negras after the battle in the street 
had been finished. The long roll was 
beaten, and the Mexican garrison rush- 
ed to arms. Shelby's men were infuri- 
ated beyond all immediate control, and 
mounted their horses without orders for 
a further battle. One detachment, led 
by Williams, swept down to where the 
artillery and ammunition wagons were 
packed and dispersed the guard after a 
rattling broadside. Langhorne laid 
hands upon the Custom-house and hud- 
dled its sentinels in a room as so many 
boys that needed punishment. Separate 
parties under Fell, Wmship, Henry 
Chiles, Kirtley, Jim Wood and Martin 
Kirtzer seized upon the skiffs and the 
boats at the wharf. They meant to pil- 
lage and sack the town, and burn it af- 
terward. Women went wailing through 
the streets; the church bells rang furi- 
ously ; windows were darkened and bar- 
ricaded ; and over all the din and tur- 
moil—the galloping of horses, and 
the clanking of steel — arose the 
harsh, gathering cry of 

the Mexican long roll — sullen, 

hoarse discordant. Shelby stormed at 
his men, and threatened. For the first 
and the last time in his career, they had 
passed beyond his keeping. At a criti- 
cal ;iuucture Governor Biesca rushed 
down into the square, pale, his hat oif 
pleading in impassioned Spanish, apolo- 
gizing in all the soft vowels known to 
that soft and sounding language. 

Shelby would bow to him in great gi'a- 
vity, understanding not one word, con- 
versing in English Avhen the tide of 
Spanish had run itself out : 

"It's mostly Greek to me. Governor, 
but the devil is in the boys, for all that." 

Discipline triumphed at last, however, 
and one by one the men came back to 



their duty and their obedience. They 
formed a solid, ominous looking column 
in front of headquarters, dragging with 
them the cannon that had been sold, 
and the cannon they had captured from 
the enemy. 

"We want to sleep to-night," they 
said, in their grim soldier humor, "and 
for fear of Vesuvius, we have brought 
the crater with us." 

As the night deepened, a sudden calm 
fell upon the city. Biesca had sent his 
own troops to barracks, and had sworn 
by every saint in the calendar that for 
the hair of every American hurt he would 
sacrifice a hetacomb of Mexicans. He 
feared and not without cause, the now 
throughly aroused and desperate men 
who were inflamed by drink, and who 
had good reason for much ill-will and 
hatred. To Shelby's assurances 
of safety he offered a multitude of bows, 
each one more profound and more lowly 
than the other, until at last, from the 
game of war, the two chiefs had become 
to play a game of diplomacy. Biesca 
wanted his cannon 'back, and Shelby 
wanted his money for them. In the end, 
both were satisfied. 

The men had gone to quarters, and 
suijper was being cooked. To the feel- 
ing of revenge had been added at last 
one of forgiveness. Laughter and songs 
issued again from the wine-shops. At 
this moment a yell was heard — a yell 
that was a cross between an Indian war- 
whoop and a Mexican cattle -call. A 
crowd of soldiers gathered hastily in 
the street. Again the yell was repeated, 
this time nearer, clearer, shriller than 
before. Much wonderment ensued. 
The' day had been one of surprises. To 
a fusilade there was to be added a frolic. 
Up the street leading from the river, 
two men approached slowly, having a 
third man between them. When near 
enough, the two first were recognized as 
the soldiers, Joseph Moreland and Wil- 
liam Fell. The other man, despite the 
swarthy hue of his countenance, was 
ghastly pale. He had to be dragged 
rather than led along. Fell had his sabre 
drawn, Moreland his revoh^er. The first 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



29 



was fierce enough to perform amputa- 
tion ; the last suave enougli to adminis- 
ter chloroform. 

When Moreland reached the edge of 
the crowd he shouted : 

" Make way, Mlssourians, and 
therefore barbarians, for the only 
living and animated specimen of 
the genus Polyglott now upon the 
North American continent. Look at 
him, you heathens, and uncover your- 
selves. Draw nigh to him, you savages, 
and fall upon your knees. Touch him, 
you blood- drinkers, and make the sign 
of the cross." 

"What did you call him f asked Ar- 
mistead. 

"A Polyglott, you Fejee Islander; a 
living dictionary ; a human mausoleum 
with the bones of fifty languages ; a 
himi3 nattirae in a land of garlic, stilettos, 
and straw hats." 

The man himself was indeed a curiosi- 
ty. Born of Creole parents in New Or- 
leans, he had been everywhere and had 
seen everything. When captured, he 
was a clerk in the Custom-house. 
French, Spanish, English, Italian, Ger- 
man, modern Greek, Gumbo French, 
Arabic, Indian dialects without number, 
and two score or so of patois rolled oft 
from his tongue in harsh or honied ac- 
cents accordingly as the vowels or the 
consonants were uppermost. He charm- 
ed Shelby from the beginning. When 
he felt that he was free his blood began 
to circulate again like Quicksilver. In- 
vited to supper, he remained late over 
his wine, singing songs in all manner of 
languages, and boasting in all manner 
of tongues. When he bowed himself 
out, his voice had in it the benediction 
that follows prayer. 

That night he stole two thousand dol- 
lars. 

The money for the arms and the am- 
munition had been stored in the Custom- 
house and he had the key. The next 
morning a sack was missing. Biesca 
swore, Shelby seemed incredulous, the 
Polyglott only smiled. Between the 
oath and the smile there was tins differ- 
ence : the first came fi'om empty 



pockets, the last from more mo- 
ney than the pockets could 
hold. Master of many languages, he 
ended by being master of the situation. 

In the full flow of the Polyglott's elo- 
quence, however, Shelby forgot his loss, 
and yielded himself again to the invin- 
cible charms of his conversation. When 
they parted for the last time Shelby had 
actually given him a splendid pistol, 
ivory-handled, and wrought about the 
barrel with gold and figure work. So 
much for erudition. Even in the des- 
ert there are date and palm trees. 

The formal terms of the transfer were 
concluded at last. Biesca received his 
arms, paid his money, buried the dead 
soldiers, and blessed all who came into 
Piedras Negras and went out from it. 
His last blessings were his best. They 
came from his heart, and from the hap- 
py consciousness that the Americans 
were about to depart forever from the 
midst of his post of honor and his pos- 
sessions. 

Marching southward from the town, 
the column had reached the rising 
ground that overlooked the bold sweep 
of the rapid river, the green shores of 
Texas beyond, the fort on the hill, from 
which a battered Confederate flag yet 
hung, and a halt was called. Eear and 
van the men were silent. All eyes were 
turned behind them. Some memories 
of home and kindred may have come 
then as dreams come in the night, some 
placid past may have outlined itself as a 
mirage against the clear slvy of the dis- 
tant north, some voice may have spoken 
even then to ears that heard and heed- 
ed, but the men made no sign. The 
bronzed faces never softened. As 
the ranks closed up, waiting, 
a swift horseman galloped up from the 
town — a messenger. He sought the 
leader and found him by instinct. 

''Amigo,''' he said, giving his hand to 
Shelby. 

"Friend, yes. It is a good name. 
Would you go with us '?" 

"No." 

"What will you have f 

"One last word at parting. Once upon 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



a time in Texas an American was kind 
to me. Maybe lie saved my life. I 
would believe so, because I want a rea- 
son for wbat is done between ns." 

"Speak out fairly, man. If you need 
help, tell me." 

"No hel]), Senor, no money, no horses, 
no friendship — none of these. Only a 
few last words." 

"What are they f 

"Beware of the Salinas-! 



CHAPTEK VII. 

The Salinas Avas a rivei', and \vh.y 
should one beware of it ? Its water was 
cool, the shade of its trees grateful, its 
pasturage abundant, and why then 
should tlie command not rest some liap- 
l>y days upon its further banks, sleeping 
and dreaming? Because of the am- 
bush. 

Where the stream crossed tJie high, 
hiu'd road leading down to Monterey, it 
])resented on either side I'ougii edges of 
lock, slippery and unontaiu. To the 
left some falls appeared. In the mad 
yortex of water, ragged pinnacles reared 
tliemselves up, hoary with the white 
spray of the breakers— grim cut-throats 
in ambush in mid river. 

Below these falls there were yet otlier 
crossings, and above them only two. 
Beyond the fords no living thing could 
make a passage sure. Quicksands and 
jirecipices abounded, and even in its 
solitude the river had fortified itself. 
Tower, and moat, and citadel all were 
there, and when the fiood-time came the 
Salinas was no longer a river — it was a 
barrier that was impassable. 

All the country round about was deso- 
late. AVhat the Freucli had spared the 
guerrillas had finislied. To be sure that 
no liuman hal)itcition was left, a power- 
ful war party of Lipun Indians came af- 
ter the guerrillas, speiiring the cattle 
and demolishing the farming imide- 
ments. These Lipans were a cruel and 
ferocious tribe, dwelling in the moun- 
tains of Sonora, and descending to the 
]>lains to slaughter and desohitc. Fleetly 



mounted, brave at an advantage, shoot- 
ing golden bullets oftener than leaden 
ones, crafty as all Indians are, superior 
to all Mexicans, served by women whom 
they had captured and enslaved, they 
were crouched in ambush upon the 
further side of the Salinas, four hundred 
strong. 

The weaker roblser wlien in presence 
of the stronger is always the most 
blood-thirsty. The lion will strike down, 
but the jacl^al devours. The Lipans 
luitfliciv'd and scalped, but the Mexicans 
mutilated the dead and tortured the liv- 
ing. 

With the Lipans, therefore, there were 
tiiree hundred native Mexicans, skilled 
in all the intracacies of the chapparal — 
keen upon all the scents which told of 
human prey or plunder. As ghastly 
skirmishers upon the outposts of the 
ambushment, these had come a day's 
march from the river to where a little 
village was at peace and undefended. 
As Shelby marched through there was 
such handiwork visible of tiger prowess, 
that he turned to Elliott, that grim 
Saul who never smiled, aad said to him 
curtly : 

"Should the worst come to the woist, 
keep one pistol luiil for yourself, Colo- 
nel. Better suicide than a fate like 
this." 

The spectacle was horrible beyond 
comparison. Men hung suspended from 
door-facings literally flayed alive. Huge 
strips of skin dangled fi'om them as 
tattered garments might hang. Under 
some a slow lire had been kindled, until 
strangulation came as a tardy mercy tor 
relief. There were the bodies of some 
children among the slain, and one beau- 
tiful woman, not yet attacked by the 
elements, seemed only asleep. The men 
hushed their rough voices as they rode 
by her, and more than one face lit up 
with a strange pitj' that had in it the 
light of a terrible vengeance. 

The village Avith its dead was left be- 
hind, and a deep silence fell u])on the 
column, rear and \au. The mood of the 
stranger Englishman grew sterjier and 
sadder, and when the night and the camp 



A\ UNWIUTTEX LKAF Ol' I'll I'. WATi. 



t'iinie, lie looked more keenly to his anus 
tliaii was Ills wont, and seemed to take a 
deeper interest in his horse. 

Gen. Magnider rode that day with the 
men— the Third ol: July. "To-morrow 
will be the Fourth, boys," lie said, when 
dismonntiug-, "and perhaps w^o shall 
have fire-works.'" 

Two deserters —two Austrians from 
the Foreign Lei^ion under Jeauuingros 
at Monterey — straggled into the jjicket 
lines before tattoo and were brought di- 
rectly to Shelby. They believed death 
to be certain and so they told the truth : 

"Where do you go?" asked Shelby. 

"To Texas." 

"And why to Texas?" 

"For a home ; for any life other than 
a dog's life ; for freedom, for a country." 

"You are soldiers, and yet you desert'?" 

"We were soldiers, and yet they made 
robbers of us. We do not hate the Mex- 
icans. They never harmed Austria, our 
country." 

"Where did you cross the Salinasf 

"At the ford upon the main road." 

"Who were there and what saw yon'?" 

"No living thing, General. Nothing 
but trees, and rocks, and water." 

They spoke simple truth. Safer back 
from an Indian jungle might these men 
have come, than from a passage over the 
Salinas with a Lipan and Mexican am- 
biishment near at hand. 

It was early in the afternoon of the 
Fouith of July, 1865, when the column 
approached the Salmas river. The 
march had been long, hot and dusty. 
The men were in a vicious humor, and 
in excellent fighting condition. They 
knew nothing of the ambiishment, and 
had congratulated themselves upon 
plentiful grass and reCresbing water. 

Shelby called a halt and ordered for- 
ward twenty men under command of 
Williams to reconnoitre. As they were 
being told off for the duty, the com- 
mander spoke to his subordinate: 

"It may be cliild's play or warrior's 
work, but whatever it is, let me know 
quickly." 

Williams' blue eyes flashed. He had 
caught some glimpses of the truth, and 



he knew there was dangeialiead. 

"Any further orders, General?" ho 
asked, as he galloped away. 

"None. Try the ford and penetrate 
the brush beyond. If you And one rifle 
barrel among the trees, l>e sure there a re 
five hundred close at hand. Murderers 
love to mass themselves." 

AVilliams had ridden forward with his 
detaclnnent some five minutes' s])ace, 
when the column was again put in mo- 
tion. From the halt to the river's bank 
was an hour's ride. Before commencing 
[ the ride, however, Shelby had grouped 
together his officers, and thus addressed 
them : 

Yon know as well as I do what is wait- 
ing for us at the river , wliichkuovdedge 
is simply nothing at all. This side Pie- 
dras Negras a friendly Mexican spoke 
some words at parting, full of warn- 
ing and doubtless siuceie. He at least 
believed in danger, and so do I. AVil- 
liams has gone forward to flush the 
game, if game there be, and here before 
separating I wish to make the rest plain 
to 3^011. Listen, all. Above and below 
the main road, the road we are now 
upon, there are fords where men might 
cross at ease and horses find safe and 
certain footing. I shall try none of 
them. AA^hen the battle opens, and the 
bugle call is heard, you will form your 
men in fours and follow me. The ques 
tion is to gain the further bank, and after 
that we shall see." 

Here something of the old battle ar- 
dor came back to his face, and his eyes 
caught the eyes of his officers. Like 
his own, they were full of flre and high 
resolve. 

"One thing more," he said, "before we 
inarch. Come here, Elliott." 

The scarred man came, quiet as the 
great horse he lode. 

'TTou will lead thefolorn hope. It will 
take ten mtn to form it. That is 
enough to give up of my precious ones. 
Call for volunteers — for men to take the 
water first, and draw the first merciless 
fire. After that, we will all be in at 
the death. 

Ten were called for, two hundred re- 



32 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



sponded. They had but scant knowl- 
edge of what was needed, and scantier 
care. In the ranks of the ten, however, 
there were those who were fit to fight 
for a kingdom. They were Maurice 
Langhorne, James Wood, George Win- 
ship, William Fell, Ras. Woods, James 
Kirtley, McDougall, James Rudd, James 
Chiles and James Cundilt". 

Cundiff is staid, and happy, and an 
editor sans peur et sans reproche to-day 
in St. Joseph. He will remember, amid 
all the multifarious work of his hands 
— his locals, his editorials, his type-set- 
ting, liis ledger, his long nights of toil 
and worry — and to his last day, that ter- 
rible charge across the Salinas, water 
to the saddle-girths, and seven hundred 
muskets pouring forth an unseen and 
infernal fire. 

The march went on, and there was no 
news of Williams. It was three o'clock 
in the afternoon. Tlie sun's rays seem- 
ed to penetrate the very flesh. Great 
clouds of dust arose, and as there was 
no wind to carry it away, it settled 
about the men and the horses as a gar- 
ment that was oppressive. 

Elliott kept right onward, peering 
straight to the front, watching. Be- 
tween the advance and the column some 
two hundred paces intervened. When the 
ambush was struck this distance had de- 
creased to one hundred paces — when the 
work was over the two bodies had be- 
come one. Elliott was wounded and 
under his dcttd horse, Cuudifif was 
wounded, Langhorne was wounded, 
Winship was wounded, and Wood, and 
McDougall, and Fell. Some of the dead 
were never seen again. The falls be- 
low the ford received them and the falls 
buried them. Until the judgment day, 
perhaps, will they keep their precious 
sepulchres. 

Over beyond the yellow dust a long 
green line arose against the horizon. 
This was the further edge of the Sa- 
linas, dense with trees, and cool in the 
distance. The column had reached its 
shadow at last. Then a short, sharp 
volley came from the front, and then a 
great stillness. One bugle note followed 



the volley. The coliimu, moved by a 
viewless and spontaneous impulse, form- 
ed into fours and galloped on to the 
river — Elliott leading, and keeping his 
distance well. 

The volley which came from the front 
had been poured suddenly into the face 
of Williams. It halted him. His orders 
were to uncover the ambush, not to at- 
tack it, and the trained soldier knew as 
well the number waiting beyond the 
river by the ringing of their muskets as 
most men would have known after the 
crouching forms had beeii seen and 
counted. 

He retreated beyond range and wait- 
ed. Elliott passed on beyond and 
formed his little band — the|ten daunt- 
less volunteers who were anxious to go 
first and who were not afraid to die. 

Shelby halted the main column still 
further beyond rifle range and galloped 
straight up to Williams: 

"You found them, it seemi." 

"Yes, General." I 

"How many*?" I 

"Eight hundred at the lea|t." 

"How armed V | 

"With muskets." I 

"Good enough. Take your place in 
the front ranks. I shall lead the col- 
umn." 

Turning to Elliott, he continued : 

"Advance instantly. Colonel. The 
sooner over the sooner to sleep. Take 
the water as you find it, and ride straight 
forward. Williams says there are eight 
hundred, and Williams is rarely mista- 
ken. Forward !" V 

Elliott placed himself at the head of 
his forlorn hope and drew his sabre. 
With those who knew him, this meant 
grim work somewhere. Cundiff spoke 
to Langhorne upon his right: 

"Have you said your :prayers, Cap- 
tain ?" 

"Too late now. Those who pray best 
pray first." ; 

From a walk the horsed moved into a 
trot. Elliott threw his eiyes backward 
over his men and cried out: 

"Keep your pistols dry. It will be 
hot work on the other side." 



AN i-wvuri' iKN i.r:Ai<" ok thk \y\n. 



1"? 



The volley which came from the trout 
had beeu poiued suddenly iuto the face 
of Williams. It halted hira. His orders 
were to uucover the ambush, uot to at- 
tack it, rtud the trained soldier knew as 
well the number waitiug beyond the 
liver by the ringing of their nuiskets as 
most men would have known after the 
crouching forms had been seen and 
counted. 

He retreated beyond range and wait- 
ed. Elliott passed on beyond and 
formed his little band— the ten daunt- 
less volunteers who were anxious to go 
first and who were not afraid to die. 

Slielby halted the main column still 
farther beyond rifle range and galloped 
straight up to Williams: 

"You found them, it seems." 

"Yes, General.*' 

"How many?" 

"Eight lumdred at the least.'' 

"How armed ?" 

"AVith muskets." 

"Good enough. Take your place in 
the front ranks. I shall lead the col- 
umn." 

Turning to Elliott, he continued : 

"Advance instantly, Colonel. The 
«)oner over the sooner to sleep. Take 
the water as you find it, and ride straight 
on. Williams says there are eight 
hundred, and Williams is rarely mista- 
ken. Forward !" 

Elliott placed himself at the head of 
his forlorn hope and drew his sabre. 
With those who kuew liim, this meant 
glim work somewhere. Cundift spoke 
to Langliorne ujjon his right: 

"Have you said your prayers, Cap- 
tain ?" 

"Too late now. Those who pray best 
])ray iirst." 

From a walk the horses moved into a 
tvot. Elliott threw bis eyes backward 
over his men and cried out: 

"Keep your pistols dry. It will be 
hot work on the other side." 

As they struck the wate.' some Indian 
skirmishers in front of the ambush 
opened fire. The bullets threw- the 
white foam up in front of the leading 

•A 



tiles, but did no «lannige. By and by th« 
stray shots deepened into a volley. 

Elliott spoke again, and no more atter 
until the battle was tluished : 

"Steady, men ! " 

Vain warning! The rocks w^ere not 
surer and firmer. In the re:ir the vo\- 
umu, four deep and well in hand, thun- 
dered after the advance. Struggling 
through the deep water, Elliott gained 
the bank unscathed. Then the figlit 
grew desperate. The skirmishers were 
driven in pell-mell, the ten men pressing 
on silently. As yet no American had 
fired a pistol.. A yell arose from the 
woods, long, wild, piercing — a yell that 
had exultation and murder in it. Wild- 
ly shnll and defiant, Shelby's bugle an- 
swered it. Then the woods in a mo- 
ment started into internal life. Seven 
hundred muskets flashed out from the 
gloom. A powder pall enveloped the 
advance, and when the smoke lifted El- 
liott was under his dead horse, badly 
wounded ; Cundift 's left arm was drip- 
ping blood; Langhorne, and Winship, 
and McDougall were down and bleed- 
ing ; Fell, shot through the thigh, still 
kept his seat, and Wood, his left wrist 
disabled, pressed on with the bridle in 
his teeth, and his right arm using his 
unerring revolver. Kirtley, and Rudil, 
and Chiles, and Ras. Woods, alone of 
the ten were untouched, and they stood 
over theii' fallen comrades, fighting des- 
perately. 

This terrible volley had reached the 
column in the river, and a dozen sad- 
dles were emptied. The dead the falls 
received; the wounded were caught up 
by their comrades and saved fi-om death 
l)y drowning. Shelby pressed right on- 
ward. At intervals the stern notes of 
the bugles lang out, and at intervals 
a great hearty cheer came from the 
ranks of the Americans. Some horses 
fell in the stream never to rise again, 
tor the bullets plowed up the column 
and made stark work on eveiy side. 
None faltered, Pouring up from the 
river as a great tide the men galloped 
into line on the right and left of the road 
and waited under fire until the las<^ man 



H 



sHj5t3BY*s «xp:fet)!tTiox I'o MKxico ; 



had made his landing sure. The En- 
glishman rode bv Shelby's side, a battle- 
light on his fair face — a face that was, 
alas! too soon to be wan and gray, and 
drawn with agony. 

The attack was a hurricane. There- 
after no man knew how the killing went 
on. The battle was a massacre. The 
Mexicans first broke, and after them the 
Indians. No quarter was shown. "Kill," 
"kill," resounded from the woods, and 
the roar of the revolver volleys told how 
the Americans were at work. The En- 
glishman's horse was killed. He seized 
another and mounted it. Fighting on 
the right of the road, he went ahead 
even of his commander. The mania of 
battle seemed to have taken possession 
of his brain. A musket ball shat- 
tered his left leg from the ankle to the 
knee. He tm-ned deadly pale, but he 
did not halt. Fifty paces further, and 
another ball, striking him fair in the 
breast, knocked him clear from the sad- 
dle. This tune he did not rise. The 
blood that stained all his garments 
crimson was his life's blood. He saw 
death creeping slowly towards him with 
outstretched skeleton hands, and he 
faced him with a smile. The rough, 
bearded men took him up tenderly and 
bore him backward to the river's edge. 
His wounds was dressed and a soft 
bed of blankets made for him. 
in vain. Beyond human care or skill, 
lie lay in the full glory of the summer 
sunset, waiting for something he had 
tried long and anxiously to gain. 

The sounds of the strife died away. 
While pursuit was worth Anctims, the 
I)ursuit went ou — merciless, vengeful, 
unrelenting. The dead were neither 
counted nor biuied. Over two hundred 
fell in the chapparal and died there. 
Tlie impenetrable iiature of tlie under- 
growth alone saved the remainder of 
the fugitives. Hundreds abandoned 
their horses and threw away their guns. 
Not a prisoner remained to tell oi" the 
ambush or the number of the toe. 
The victory was dearly bought, how- 
ever. Thirty-seven wounded on the 
pai't of Shelby needed care ; nineteen of 



his dead were buried before tl\e sun 
went down ; and eight the waters of the 
river closed over until the judgment day. 

An hoitr before sunset the English- 
man was stnll alive. 

"Would you have a priest?" Shelby 
asked of him, at he bent low over the 
wounded man, great marks of pain on 
his fair, stern face. 

"None. No word nor prayer can 
avail me now. I shall die as I have 
lived." 

"Is there any message you would 
leave behind '? Any token to those who • 
may watch and wait long for your com- 
ing 1 Any farewell to those beyond the 
sea, who know and love you 1 " 

His eyes softened just a little, and the 
old hunted look died out from his fea- 
tures. 

"Who among you speaks French?" he 
asked. 

"Governor Reynolds," was the reply. 

"Send him to me, please." 

It was done. Go\ ernor Reynolds ca nie 
to the man's be<lside, antl with him a 
crowd of soldiers. He motioned them 
away. His last words on earth were lor 
the ears of one man alone, and this is 
his confession, a free translation of 
which was given the author by Goreruor 
Reynolds, the original being jiiaced in 
the hands of tiie British Minister in 
Mexico, Sir James Scarlett : 

"I was the youngest son of an English 
Baron, born, perhaps, to bad luck, and 
certainly to ideas of life that were crude 
and unsatisfactory. TJie army was 
opened to me, and I entered it. A lieu- 
tenant at twenty-two in the Fourtii 
Royals^ I hatl but one ambiticui, that to 
rise m my prol'essioi] and take rank 
among the great soldiers of the nation. 
I studied liard, and soon mastered tlie 
iutricacies of the art, but jironiotion was 
not easy, and there was no war. 

"In barracks the life is an idle one 
with the officers, and at times they grow 
impatient and tit for much that is repre- 
hensible and unsoldierly. We Were 
quartered at Tyrone, in Ireland, where 
a young girl lived who was faultlessly 
fair and beautiful. She was the toast 



AN UiSnvpiTTKN LKAF OF THE WAK. 



.-^5 



of the regiment. Other officers oldei- 
aud colder than myself ivdmii-ed her and 
riattered her; I praised her a)id wor- 
shipped her. Perhaps it was an infatu- 
ation ; to me at least it was immortality 
and reliirion. 

"One day, 1 remember it yi'l, ior men 
are apt to remember those tilings which 
change the \vht)le current of the blood, 
1 sought her out and told her 
of my love. Whether at my 
vehemence or my desi>erati«fn, I know 
not, bat she turned pale and would have 
left me Avithout an answer. The sus- 
pense was unbearable, and I pressed the 
})Ooi- thing harder and harder. At last 
she turned at bay, Hushed, wild, trefn- 
ulous, and deelared througli her tears 
that she did not and could not love me. 
The rest Avas plain. A young cornet in 
the same regiment, taller b.y a head than 
I, and blonde and boyish, had baffled us 
all, and had taken from me, what in my 
bitter selhshuess, I could not see that I 
never had. 

"Maybe, my brain has not been al- 
ways clear. Sometimes I have thought 
that a cloud Avould come betw^een the 
past and the present, and that I could 
not see plainly what had taken place iu 
all the desolate days of my valueless 
life. Sometimes I have prayed, too. I 
l>elieve even the devils pray, no matter 
how impious or useless such prayers 
may be. 

"I need not detail all tbe ways a 
baffled lover has to overthrow the lover 
who is successful. I pursued the 
coraet with insults and bitter words, 
and yet he avoided me. One day 1 
struck him, and such was the indigna- 
tion exhibited by his conuades, that he no 
longer considered. A challenge followed 
the blow, and then a meeting. Good 
people say that the devil helps his own. 
Caring very little for Cxod or devil, I 
fought him at daylight and killed hnn. 
Since then 1 have been an outcast and a 
wanderer. Tried by a military commis- 
sion and disgraced from all rank, 1 w'eut 
first to India and sought desperate sei- 
vice wherever it was to be found. 
Woftuded often and scorc-hed by fever, I 



could not die. In the Crimea the old, 
hard fortune followed me, and it was 
the same struggle with bullets that al- 
AA ays gave j)aui without pain's antidote. 
No rest anyw here. Perhaps I lived the 
lite that was in me. Who knows? Let 
him who is guiltless cast the first stone. 
There is much blood upon my hands, 
and heie and there a good deed that 
will atone a little, it may be, in tlie end. 
"Of my life in America it is needless to 
talk. Aimless, objectless, miserable, 1 
am here dying to-day as a ntan dies who 
has neither fear nor hope. 1 thank yon 
very much for your patienci', and for all 
these good men would have done foi' 
me, but the liour has come. Good-bye.'' 

He lifted himsell: up and 
turned his face fail' to 

the west. Some beams of the setting 
sun. like a benediction, rested upon the 
long blonde hair, and upon the white set 
lips, di-awu now and gray with agony. 
No man spoke in all the rugged band, 
flushed with \ict(U'y, and Avcaiy with 
killing. In the trees a little breeze lin- 
gered, and some birds flitted and sang, 
though far apart. 

For a fcAV moments tlie Englislnnan 
lay as one asleep. Suddenly he roused 
himself and spoke : 

"It is so dreary to die in the night. 
One likes to have the sunlight for this.'" 

Gov. Reynolds stooped low as if to 
listen, drew^ back, and whispered a 
]>rayer. The man Avas dead ! 



CHAPTER VIIT. 

Kvil tidings have Avings and fly as a 
bird. Through some process, no matter 
wiiat, and over some roads, no matter 
where, the news AA'as cariied to Gen. 
Jeannbigros, holding outermost w^atch 
at Monterey, that Shelby had sold all 
his cannon and muskets, all his ammu- 
nition and Avar supplies, to Goa'. Biesca, 
a loyal folloAver of Benito Juarez. 
StraightAvay the Frenchman flcAv into a 
passion and made some vows that were 
illy kejtt. 

"Let me but get my hands upon these 



SJIEI.BY S KXPKUITION TO MKXICO ; 



Americans," he said, "tliese aiuaille, nud 
after (bat we shall see." 

He (lid get his hands upon tliein, but 
iu lieu ot the sword they bore the olive 
biauch. 

The iiuirch into the interior troia the 
Salinas river was slow and toilsome. 
Very weak and sore, tlje wonnded liad 
to be waited for and teiitterly eariied 
alonj^'. To leave them would have been 
to raurdei' them, for all tiie country was 
up in anus, seekin.ir for some ad^ aiuage 
which never came to aaiii the niiistery 
ov<}r the Americans, At night and from 
afar, tjie outlying guerillas would nuike 
great show" of attack, dischargiug pla- 
toons of musketrv at intervals, and 
ehargiiig upon tJie picquets at intervals, 
but never coming seriously to blows. 
This kind of warfare, however, Av])ilc it 
w^as not dangerous was auroying. It 
interfered with the sleej) of the soldiers 
and kept them constantly on the alert. 
They greAv snlleti in some instances and 
tlireatened reprisals. Shelby's unijeas- 
iug vigilance detected tiie plot before it 
had culminated, and one morning before 
reaching Lampasas, he ordered the col- 
umn under arms that he might talk to 
the men. 

" There are some signs among ,you 
of bad discipline," he said, "and 1 
have called you out that you may be 
told of it. What have you to complain 
about? Those who follow on your 
track to kill y u f Very well, complain 
of them if you choose, and tight them to 
your heart's content, but lift not a sin- 
gle hand against the Mexicans who are 
at home and the non-combatants. We 
are invaders, it is true, but we are not 
murderers. Those wdio follow me are 
incapable of this; those who are not 
shall not follow me. From this moment 
forward I regard you all as soldiers, and 
if I am mistaken in my estimate, and if 
amid the ranks of those Avho have obey- 
ed me for four years some marauders 
have crept in, I order now that upon 
these a soldier's work be done. Watch 
tliem well. He who robs, he who insults 
w omen, he who oppresses the unarmed 
and the aged, is an outcast to all the 



good fellowsliip of this command and 
sliall be driven forth as an enemy to us 
all. Hereafter be as you have ever been, 
brave, true and honorable." 

There was no longer any more muti- 
ny. The less disciplined felt the moral 
pressure of their comrades and behaved 
themselves. Th(5 more unscrupulous 
set the Mexicans on one side and the 
Americans on the other, and elected to 
renuiiu peaceably in the ranks which 
alone couhl slielter and protect them. 
Tiie marches became shorter and the 
bivouacs less pleasant and agreeable. 
Although it was not yet time for the 
rainy season, some rain fell in the more 
elevated mountain ranges, and some 
chilling nights made comfort impossi- 
ble. N«»w nnd then some days of camp- 
ing, too, were retiuisite— days in which 
arras were cleaned and ammimition in- 
spected j<'alousiy. The American horses 
were undergoing accliinatization, :ind in 
the inevitable fever which develops it- 
sfilf, tlie affectionate cavalr\inan 
sits by his horse night and 
day lintil the crisis is passed. 
Well nursed, this fever is not dangerous. 
At the crisis, however, woe to the steed 
who loses his blanket, and woe to the 
rider who sleeps while tlie cold night 
air is driving in death through every 
pore. Accordingly as the perspiration 
is checked or encouraged is the balance 
for or against the life of the horse. 
There, horses were gold, and hence the 
almost paterii;)! solicitude. 

Dr. John S. Tisdale, the lord of many 
patients and pill-boxes to-day in Platte, 
was the veteriuaiy^ surgeon, and from 
the liealer of men he had become to be 
the liealer of horses. Shaggy-headed 
and wide of forehead in the regions o t 
ideality, he had a new name for every 
disease, and a new remedy for every 
symptom. An excellent appetite had 
given him a. hearty laugh. During all 
the long night watches he moved about 
as a Samaritan, his kindly face set in its 
frame-work of gray — his fifty years 
resting as lightly upon him as the night 
air upon the mountains of San Juan de 
Aguilar. He prayeth well who smokefch 



AN UNWIUI Tli.V I.KAF OF 'JllK WAR. 



37 



well, and tlie good Doctor's supplica- 
tions went np all true and rugged many 
a tirae from iiis ancient pii>e when the 
hoar frosts fell and deep sleep came 
down npon the camp as a silent angel to 
scatter sweet dreams of home and na- 
tive laud. 

(lood nursing triumi)hed. The crisis 
of the climate passed away, and from 
tlic last tedious camp the column moved 
rapidly on toward Lampasas. Dangers 
thickened. (Jiontent to keep the guer- 
lillas at 1)iiy. Shelby had permitted no 
scouting parties and forlvidden all pur- 
suit. 

"Let them alone," he would say to 
those eager for adventure, "and hus- 
ba tid your streugtli. In a land of proba- 
ble giants we have no need to hunt pos- 
sible chinjei'as.' 

These guerrillas, however, became 
emboldened. On the trail of a timid or 
wounded thing they are veritablewblves. 
Their long gallop can never tire. In the 
night they are sin>erb. Upon the flanks, 
in the front or lear, it is oneetenlal am- 
bush — one incessant rattle of musketiy 
which harms nothing, but which yet 
annoys like th<^ singing of mosquitoes. 
Atlast they brought about a svrif t rec- 
oning— oueof those suddeu things which 
leave little behind save a trail of blood 
and a moment of savjige killing. 

The column had reached to within two 
days' journey of liampasas. ISome spurs 
of the mountain ran down to the road, 
and some clusters of palm trees grouped 
themselves at intervals V>y the wayside. 
The i)alm is a pensive tree, having a 
voice in the wind that is sadder than the 
pine— a sober, solemn voice, a voice like 
tlie sound of luffled cerements when the 
coi-pse is given to tlie coffin. Even in 
the sunlight they are dark ; even in the 
tropics no vine clings to them, no blos- 
som is born to them, no bird is housed 
by them, and no flutter of wings makes 
music for the:n. Strange and shav)ely, 
and coldly chaste, they seem like human 
and desolate things, standing all alone 
in the midst of bixurious nature, un- 
blessed of the soil, and unloved of the 
dew and the sunshine. 



In a giove of these the column halt<>d 
for the night. IJeyond them was a past* 
guarded by crosses. In that treacherous 
land these are a growth indigenous to 
the soil. They flourish nowhen- else 
in sucli abundance, ^"^'herever a. deed 
of violence is done, a cross is planted; 
wherever a traveler is left upon his face 
in a pool of blood, a cntss is reared; 
wherever a, giave is made wherein lies 
the murdered one, there is seen a cross. 
><o matter Avho does the deed — wliether 
Indian, or don, or commandaute, a cross 
must mark the S]>ot, and as the i)ious 
wayfarer .iourneys by he lays all rever- 
ently a stone at the feet of the sacred 
symbol, breathing a pious prayer and 
telling a bead or two for the soul's sal- 
vation. 

On the left a \\(»oded bluft ran down 
abruptly to a stream. Beyond the 
stream and uearthe palms, a grassy bot- 
tom spread itself out, soft and grateful. 
Here the blaulvcts were spread, and 
here the horses grazed their till. A 
young moon, clear and white, hung low 
in the west, not srullen nor red, but a 
tender moon full of the beams' tbat lov- 
ers vseek, and full of the voiceless imag- 
ery which gives passion to the songs of 
the night, and pathos to deserted 
and dejected sw^ains. 

As the moon set the horses were 
gathered together atui tethered in amid 
the palms. Then a deep silence fell 
upon the cami), for the sentinels weie 
beyond its confines, and all withinside 
slept the sleep of the tired and healthy. 
It may have been midnight ; it cer- 
tainly was cold and dark. The fires had 
gone out, and there was a white mist 
like a shroud creeping up the stream 
and settling upon the faces of the sleep- 
1 ers. On the tar right a single pistol 
! shot arose, clear and resonant. Shelby, 
j who slumbered like a night bird, lifted 
i himself up frotti his blankets and sjioke 
I in an undertone to Thrailkill : 
! " Who has the post at the mouth of 
i the pass?" 
" Jo. Macey." 

"Then something is stirring. Macey 
never fired at a shadow in his life." 



3S 



SHELBY S EXPEDITIOX TO MEXICO 



The two men listened. One a grim 
guerrilla himself, with the physique of 
a Cossack and the hearing of a Coman- 
che. The other having in his hands the 
lives of all the silent and inert sleepers 
lying still and grotesque under the white 
sliroud of the mountain mist. 

Nothing was heard for an hovir. The 
two men went to sleep again, but not to 
dream. Of a sudden and unseen the 
mist was lifted, and in its place a sheet 
of flame so neai' to the faces of the men 
that it might have scorched them. Two 
hundred Mexicans had crept down the 
mountain, and to the edge of the stream, 
and had tired point blank into the camp. 
It seemed a miracle, but not a man was 
touched. Lying flat upon the ground 
and wrajiped up in their blankets, the 
whole volley, meant to l>e murderous, 
had swept over them. 

Shelby was the first upon his feet. His 
voice rang out clear and faialtless, and 
without a tremor: 

"Give them the revolver. Charge!" 

Men awakened fiom deep sleep grap- 
ple with spectres slowly. These Mexi- 
cans were spectres. Beyond the stream 
and in amid the sombre shadows of the 
palme, they were invisible. Only the 
powder-pall was on the water where rhe 
mist had been. 

Unclad, baretooted, heavy Avith sleep, 
the men went straight for the mountain, 
a levolver in each hand, Shelby lead- 
ing. From spectres the Mexicans had 
become to be bandits. No quarter was 
given or asked. The rush lasted until 
the game was flushed, the pursuit until 
the top of the mountain was gained. 
Over ragged rock, and cactus, and 
<3afi:ger-trees the liurricaue poured. 
The roar of the revolvers was deafen- 
ing. Men died and made no' moan, 
and the wounded were recognized only 
by their voices. When it was ov^er the 
Americans had lost in killed eleven and 
in wounded seventeen, most of thelatter 
slighlly, thanks to the darkness and the 
impetuosity of the attack. In crawling 
ui)on the camp, tlu^ Mexicans had teth- 
ei-ed their horses upon the further side 
of tlie loount^iu. The mos^ of these fell 



into Shelby's hands, together with the 
bodies of the two leaders, Juan Ansel- 
mo, a renegade priest, and Antonio 
Flores, a young Cuban who had sold his 
sister to a wealthy haclendaro and 
turned lobber, and sixty-nine of their 
lolloweis. 

It was noon the next day before the 
march was resumed — uoou with the sun 
shining upon the fresh graves of eleven 
dauntless Americans sleeping their last 
sleep, amid the i^alms and the crosses, 
until the resurrection day. 

Tbere was a gvnnd fandango at Lam- 
pasas when the column reached the city. 
The bronzed, foreign faces of the stran- 
gers attracted much of curiosity and 
more oi comnjent; but no notes in the 
music jarred, no halt in the flying feet 
of the dancers could be discovered. 
Shelby camped just beyond the suburbs, 
unwilling to trust his men to the blan- 
dishments of so much beauty, and to 
the perils of so much nakedness. 

Stern caini) guards soon sentiuelletl 
the soldiers, but as the night deepened 
their devices increased, until a good 
company had escaped all vigilance and 
made a refugf sure with the sweet and 
swarthy senoritas singing : 

"O ven ! ama ! 

Eres alma, 

Soy cox'azon." 

There were three men who stole out 
together in mere wantonness and exu- 
berance of life — obedient, soldierly men 
— who Avere to bring back with them a 
tragedy without a counterpart in all 
their history. None saw Boswell, Walk- 
er and Crockett depart— the whole com- 
mand saw them return again, Boswell 
slashed from chin to waist, Walker al- 
most dumb from a bullet through 
cheeks and tongue, anti tJiockett, sober 
and unhurt, yet having over him the 
sombre light of as wild a deed as any 
that stands out from all the lawless past 
of that lawless land. 

I'hese ineu, when reaching Lampasas, 
floated into the flood tide of the fandan- 
go, and danced until the red lights 
shone with an unnatural brilliancy — 
until the tiery Catalan consmned what 
little o1' discretion the dancing 



AN UXWRrTIKN LKAt'' n\- rllK WAK. 



3^ 



had left. They sallied out late ; 
at ui^ht, tlnshed witli dvink, ' 
and having- over them the j^laiuour 
ot* euchantiug womeu. They walked 
on apace in the direction of the camp, 
singing snatches of Baccliaual songs, and 
laughing boisterously under tlie moon- 
light which flooded all the streets with 
gold. In the doorway of a house a young 
Mexican girl stood, her dark face look- 
ing out eoquettishly fi'om her fringe of 
dark hair. The men spoke to her, and 
she. m her simple, girlish fashion, si)oke 
to the men. In Mexico tliis meant no- 
thing. They halted, however, and 
Crockett advanced from the rest and 
laid his hand npon the girl's shoulder. 
Around her head and shoulders she 
Avore a rchosa. This garment answers 
at the same time for bonnet and bodice. 
When ren)oved the head is uncovered 
and the bosom is exposed. C'rockett 
meant no real harm, although he asked 
her for a kiss. Before she had replied 
to hitn, he attempted to take it. 

The hot Southern blood flared up all 
of a sudden at this, and her dark eyes 
grew furious in a moment. As she 
drew back from him in proud scoru,the 
rebosa ciiine off, leaving all her bosom 
bare, the long, luxuriant liair falling 
down upon and over it as a cloud that 
would hide its purity and innocence. 
Then she uttered alow, feminine cry as 
a signal, followed instantly by a rusli of 
men who drew kuiA^es and pistols a,s 
they came on. The Americans had no 
weapons. Not dreaming of dangei', and 
being within sight almost of camp, they 
had left their revolvers behind. Bos- 
Avell Avas stabbed three times, though 
not seriously, for he was a powerful 
man, and fought his assailants ott'. 
Walker Avas sliot through his tongue 
and both cheeks, and Crockett,the cause 
oi' the Avhole melee, escaped unhurt. 
No puisiiit was attempted after the 
first sw ift work Avas oa er. Wary of re- 
prisals, the Mexicans hid themseh'^es as 
suddenly as they had sallied out. There 
Avas a young man, how'ever, who walked 
<'lose to Crockett — a young Mexican Avho 
spoke no word, and who yet kept pace 



with the Ameriiian step by step. At 
first he was not noticed. Before the 
camp guards were reached, Crockett, 
now completely j;obered, turned upon 
him and asked : 

" Why do you folloAV me ?" 

" That you may lead me to vour Gen- 
eral." 

" What do you wish with mv Geu- 
eral f 

" Satisfaction." 

At the filing in the city a patrol gnard 
had been thrown out, who arrested 
the whole part3^ and canied it straight 
to Shelby. He was encamped upon a 
wide margin of bottom land, having a 
riA'er upon one side, ,and some low 
mountain ridges upon the other. The 
ground where the blankets were spread 
Avas velvety with grass. 'I'here was a 
I bright moon ; the air, blowing from the 
grape gardens and the apricot orchards 
of Lampasas, was fragrant and delicious, 
and the soldiers Avere not sleeping. 

Under the solace of such surroundings 
Shelby had relaxed a little of that grim 
severity he always manifested toward 
those guilty of unsoldierly conduct, and 
spoke not harshly to the three men. 
When made acquainted with their hurts, 
he dismissed them instantly to the care 
of Dr. Tisdale. 

Crockett and the Mexican still linger- 
ed, and a croAvd of some fifty or sixty 
had gathered around. The first told his 
story of the melee, and told it truthful- 
ly. The man Avas too brave to lie. As 
an Indian listening to the ap- 
proaching footsteps of one Avhom 
he intends to scalp, the 
young -Mexican listened as a granite 
pillar vitalized to the Avhole recital. 
When it was finished he Avent up close 
to Shelby, and said to him, ])ointing his 
finger at Crockett : 

''That man has outraged my sister. I 
could have killed him, but I did not. 
You Americans are brave, I knoAv; will 
you be generous as well, and give me 
satisfaction ?" 

Shelby looked at Crockett, whose 
bronzed face, made sterner in the moon- 
light, had upon it a look of curiosity. 



40 



SHELBY S EXi'fiDrnON TO MEXICO ; 



He at least did not understand what was 
coming. 

"Does the Mexican speak truth, Crock- 
ett?" was the question asked by the 
commander of his soldier. 

"Partly ; but I meant no harm to the 
woman. I am incapable of that. Drunk 
1 know I was, and reckless, but not wil- 
lully guilty, General." 

Shelbj' rej^arded him coldly. His voice 
AYas so stern wiieu he spoke again that 
the brave soldier hung his head : 

"What business .had you to lay 
your hands upon her at all ? 
How often must I repeat to 
you that the man who does these tilings 
is no follower of mine '? Will you give 
her brother satisfaction "?" 

He drew his revolver almost Joyfully 
and stood j^roudly up, facing his accus- 
er. 

"No ! no ! not the pistol !" cried the 
Mexican ;" I do not understand the 
pistol. The knife, Senor General ; is 
tiie American afraid of the knife V 

He displayed, as he spoke, a keen, 
glittering knife and held it up in the 
moonlight. It was white, and lithe, and 
shone in contrast with the dusky hand 
which grasped it. 

Not a muscle of Crocketfs face moved. 
He spoke almost gently as he turued'to 
his General : 

"The knife, ah ! well, so be it. Will 
some of you give me a knife V 

A knife was handed iiim and a ring 
was made. About four hundred sol- 
diers formed the outside circle of this 
ling. These, bearing torches in then- 
hands, casta red glare of light upon tlie 
arena. Tlie ground under foot was as 
velvet. The moon, not yet full, and the 
sky without a cloud, rose over all, calm 
and peaceful in the summer night. A 
hush as of ex))ectancy, fell upon the 
camp. Those wlio were asleep, slept 
on; those who were awake seemed as 
under the influence of an intangible 
dream. 

iShelby did not forbid the tight. He 
knew it was a duel to the death , and 
some of the desperate spirit of the com- 



batants passed into his own. He merely 
spoke to an aide : 

"Go for Tisdale. When the steel has 
finished the surgeon may begin." 

Both men stepped fearlessly into the 
arena. A third form was there, unseen, 
invisible, and even in /*/.9 presence the 
traits of the two nations were upper- 
most. Tlie Mexican made the sign of 
the cross, the American tightened his 
sabre belt. Both may have prayed, 
neither, however, audibly. 

They had no seconds— perhaps none 
were needed. The Mexican took las 
stand about midway the arena and wait- 
ed. Crockett grasped his knife firmly 
and advanced upon him. Of tlie two, 
he was taller by a head and jihysicaily 
the strongest. Constant familiarity 
with danger for four years had given 
him a confidence the Mexican may not 
have felt. He had been wounded three 
times, one of whicli wounds was scarcely 
healed. This took none of his man- 
hood from him, howevei-. 

Neithei' spoke. The torches flared a 
little in the night Aviud, now beginning 
to rise, and the long grass rustled curtly 
under foot. Afterwards its green had 
become crimson. 

Between them some twelve inches of 
space now intervened. The men had 
fallen back upon the right and the left 
for their commander to see, and he 
stood l(x>king fixedly at tlie two as he 
would upon a line of battle. Never be- 
fore h ad lie gaze d upon so stran ge a si g1 1 1 . 
That great circle of bronzed faces, eager 
and fierce in the flare of torches, had 
something monstrous yet grotesciue 
about it. The civilization of the century 
had been rolled back, and they were in 
a Roman circus, looking do\^ n ujion the 
arena, crowded with ghxdiators and ju- 
bilant with that strangest of war-cries : 
Montnn U scUntant! 

The attack was the lightuiug's flash. 
1 he Mexican lowered his head, set his 
teeth hard, and sstruck fairly at Crock- 
ett's breast. The Ameiicau made a halt' 
face to the right, threw his left arm for- 
ward as a shield, gathered the deadly 



A>J UNVVinTTKN LEAF OK TlIK W A K . 



4' 



steel in his shoulder to the hilt and 
struck home. How pitiful ! 

A great stream of blood spurted iu his 
face. The teuse form of the Mexican 
l)ent as a willow wand in the wind, 
swayed helplessly, and fell backward 
lifeless, the knife rising up as a terrible 
protest above tlie corpse. Tlie man's 
heart was found. 

Cover him up from sight. No need of 
Dr. Tisdale here. There was a wail of 
women on the still night air, a shudder 
of regret among the soldiers, a dead 
man on the grass, a sister broken-heart- 
ed and alone for evermore, and a freed 
spirit somewhere out iu eternity with 
the unknown and tlie infinite. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Gen. Jeanningros held Monterey with 
a garrison of live thousand French and 
Mexican soldiers. Among them was 
the Foreign Legion— composed of Amer- 
icans, English, Irish, Arabs, Turks, Ger- 
mans and negroes— and the Third 
French Zouaves, a regiment unsurpass- 
ed for courage and discipliue in anj 
army in any nation on earth. Thisregi- 
ment afteiwards literally passed away 
from service at Graveiotte. Like the 
Old Guard at Waterloo, it was destroy- 
ed. 

Jeanningros was a soldier who spoke 
Euglisli, who had gray hair, who drank 
absinthe, who liau been iu the army 
thirty years, who had been wounded 
thirteen times, and who was only a gen- 
eral of brigade. His discipline was all 
iron. Those who transgressed, those 
who were found guilty at night were 
shot iu the moruiog. He never spared 
what the court martial liad condemned. 
There was a ghastly dead wall in Mon- 
terey—isolated, lonesome, forbidding, 
terrible — which had seen many a stal- 
wart form shudder and fall— many a 
young, fresh, dauntless face go down 
stricken iu the hush of the morning. 
The face of this wall, covered all over 
with warts, with excrescences, with 
scars, had about it a horrible small -pox. 
Where the bullets had plowed it up 
were the traces of the pustules. The 
uplashes of blood left by the slaughter, 
6A 



dried there. Iu the sunlight these shone 
as sinister blushes upon the countenance 
of that stony and inanimate thing, peer- 
ing out from an inexorable ambush — 
\Ti'aiting. 

Speaking no word for the American, 
and setting down naught to the credit 
side of his necessities or his surround- 
ings, those who had brought news lo 
Jeanningros of Shelby's opera- 
tions at Piedras Xegras had 
told him as well of the can- 
non sold as of the aims and ammunition. 
Jeanningros had waited patiently and 
had replied to them : 

''Wait awhile. We must catch them 
before we hang them.'' 

AVhile he was waiting to lay liainls 
upon them, Shelby had marched to 
within a mile of the French outposts at 
Monterey. He came as a soldier, and lie 
meant to do a soldier's work. Pickets 
were thrown forward, the horses were 
fed.and Gov. Reynolds put inmost excel- 
lent French this manner of a note . 

Gex. Jkaxxisgros, Commander at Mou- 
terej' — General: 1 have the honor to re- 
port that I am within one mile of your for- 
tifications Avith uiy command. Preferring 
exile to surrender, I have left my own 
country to seek service in that held by 
His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Maxi- 
milian. Shall it be peace or war between 
us? II; the iornier, and with your peririis- 
sion, I shall enter your lines at ouce,claiui- 
lug at your hands that courtesy due from 
one soldier to another. If the latter, I 
propose to attack you immediately. 
Very respectfully, j ours. 

Jo. O. Shelby. 

Improvisiiig a flag of truce, two feai- 
less soldiers, John Thrailkill and Rainy 
McKiuney, bore it boldly into the pub 
lie square at Monterey. This flag 
was an apparition. The long roll was 
beaten, the garrison stood to their arms, 
mounted orderlies galloped hither and 
thither, and .Jeanningros himself, used 
all his life to surprises, was attracted by 
the soldierly daring of the deed. He re- 
ceived the message and auswered it fa- 
vorably, remarkin g to Thrailkill, as he 
handed him the reply : 

''Tell your General to march in imme- 
diately. He is the only soldier that has 
yet come out of Yaukcedom.'' 

Jeanningros' recepticm was as frank 
and open as his speech. That night, at- 



^1 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



ter assigning? quarters to the men, be 
gave a banquet to the officers. Among 
those present were Gen. Magruder, Ex- 
Senator Trusten Polk, Ex-Governor 
Thomas C. Eeynohis, Gen. T. C. Hind- 
man, Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Gen, John B. 
Clark, Gen. Shelby, and many others 
fond of talk, wine and adventure. Jean- 
nin^oe was a superb host. His conver- 
sation never tired of the Crimea, of Na- 
peleon Ill's coup d'etat, of the Italian 
campaign, of the march to Pekin, of Al- 
igeria, of all the great soldiers he had 
known, and of all the great campaigns 
he had participated in. The civil war 
in America was discussed in all of its 
vivid and sombre lights, and no little 
discussion carried on as to the probable 
eftect peace would have upon Maximil- 
ian's occupation of Mexico. Jeanning- 
ros was emphatic in all of his declara- 
tions. In reply to a question asked by 
Shelby concerning the statesinansliip of 
the Mexican Emperor, tlie French Gen- 
eral replied : 

"Ah ! the Austrian ; you shoiild see 
him to understand him. More of a 
«eholar than a king, good at botany, a 
poet on occasions, a traveler who gath- 
ers curiosities and writes books, a, saint 
over his wine tuid a sinner a iuong his ci- 
gars, in love with his wife,belicving mere 
in manifest destiny than drilled battal- 
ions, good Spaniard in all but deceit aud 
treacherj% honest, earnest, tender-heart- 
ed and sincere, his faith is too strong in 
the liars who surround him, and his soul 
is too pure for the deeds that must be 
done. He cannot kill as we Frenchmen 
do. He knows nothing of diplomacy. 
In a nation of thieves and cut-throats, 
he goes devoutly to mass, endows hos- 
pitals, laughs a good man's langh at the 
praises of the blanketed rabble, says his 
prayers and sleeps the sleep of the gen- 
tleman and the prince. Bah ! his days 
are numbered; nor can all the power of 
France keep his crown upon his head, 
if, indeed, it can keep that head upon 
kis shoulders." 

The blunt soldier checked himself 
suddenly. The man had spoken over 
bis wine; the courtier never speaks. 



"Has he the confidence of Bazaine V 
asked Gen. Clark. 

Jeanuingros gave one of those un- 
translatable shrugs which are a volume, 
and drained his goblet before replying : 

"The Marshal, you mean. Oh ! the 
Marshal keeps his own secrets. Besides, 
I have not seen the Marshal since com- 
ing northward. Do you go further. Gen. 
Clark ?" 

The diplomatist had met the diplo- 
matist. Both smiled; neither referred 
to the subject again. 

Daylight shone in through the closed 
shutters before the party separated — 
the Americans to sleep, the Frenchman 
to sign a death warrant. 

A young Lieutenant of the Foreign 
LegioB, crazed by that most damnable 
of drinks, absinthe, had deserted from 
outpost duty in a moment of temporary 
iusauity. For three days he wandered 
about, taking no note of men or things, 
helpless and imbecile. On the morning 
of the fourth day his reason was given 
back to him. None knew better than 
himself the nature of the precipice upon 
which he stood. Before him lay the Eio 
Grande, the succor beyond, an 
asylum, safety; behind him the 
court-martial, the sentence, the liorrible 
wall, splashed breast high Avith blood, 
the platoon, the levelled muskets — 
deatli. He never faltered. Returning 
to the outpost at which he had been 
stationed, he saluted its officer and 
said : 

"Here I am." 

"Indeed. And who are you T' 

"A deserter." 

"Ah ! but Jeanningros shoots deser- 
ters. Why did you not keep on, since 
you had started ?" 

"No matter. I am a, Frenchman aii€ll 
know how to die." 

They brought him in while Jean- 
ningros was drinking his generous wine, 
and holding high reveliy with his 
guests. When the morning came he 
was tried. No matter for anything tLj 
poor young soldier could say, and ho 
said but little. At sunrise upon the nex . 
moi'uing he was to die. 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



43 



When Jeaiiin,a:ros awoke late in the 
afternoon there was a note for him. Its 
contents, in substance, was as follows : 

"I do not ask for my life— only for the 
means of disposiuK of it. I liave an old 
'i.iother in France who gave me to the 
country and who blessed me as she said 
good-bye. Under the law, Cxeneral, if I 
-vu shot, my property goes to the state ; 
M I ?ihoot myself my mother gets it. It 
18 a i't tie thing a' soldier asks of his 
Greiicral, who has medals, and honors, 
and, maybe, a mother, too— but for the 
sake of the uniform I wore at Solferino, 
is it asking more than you can grant 
when I ask for a revolver and a bottle 
of brandy ?" 

Through his sleepy, half-shut eyes, 
Jeauningros read the message to the 
end. When he had finished he called an 
aide : 

"Take to the commandant of the pri- 
son this order." 

The order was for the pistol and the 
brandy. 

'Ii?at afternoon and night the young 
Lieutenant wrote, and drank, and 
made his peace with all tiie world. 
What laid beyond he knew not, 
nor any man born of woman. There 
was a little light in the east and a little 
brandy in the bottle. But the letters 
had all been written, and the poor 
woman in France would get her just due 
after all. 

Tarn out the guard! 

For what end? No need of soldiers 
there— rather the coffin, the prayer of 
tJie priest, the grave that God blessed 
tfiough by man decreed unhallowed. 
French to the last, the Lieutenant had 
waited for the daylight, had finished his 
bottle, and had scattered his brains over 
the cold walls of his desolate prison. 
Jeauningros heard the particulars duly 
related, and had dismissed the Adjutant 
with an epigram: 

"Clever fellow. He was entitled to 
two bottles instead of one." 

Such is French discipline. All crimes 
but one may be condoned— desertion 
never. 



Preceding Shelby's ariival in Monte- 
rey, there had come also Col. Francois 
Achille Dupin, a Frenchman who wbk 
known as "The Tiger of the Tropics." 
What he did would fill a volume. Re- 
corded here, no reader would believe it 
— no Christian would imagine such war- 
fare possible. He wnis past sixty, tall as 
Tecumseh, straight as a rapier, with a 
seat in the saddle like an Engliab 
guardsman, and a waist like a woman. 
For deeds of desperate daring he had 
received more decorations than could 
be displayed upon the right breast of 
his uniform. His hair and beard, snowy 
white, contrasted strangely with a stem, 
set face that had been bronzed by the 
sun and the wind of fifty campaigns. 

In the Chinese expedition, this man 
had led the assault upon the Emperor's 
palace, wherein no defender escaped the 
bayonet and no woman the grasp of the 
brutal soldiery. Sack, and pillage, and 
murder, and crimes without a name all 
were there, and when the fierce carnage 
was done, Dupin, staggering under the 
weight of rubies, and pearls, and dia- 
monds, was a disgraced man. The in- 
exorable jaws of a French court mai- 
tial closed down upon him, and he was 
dismissed from service. It was on the 
trial that he parodied the speech of War- 
ren Hastings and declared : 

"When I saw mountains of gold and 
precious stones piled up around me, and 
when I think of the paltry handfulls 
taken away, by G— d, Mr. President, I 
am astonished at my own moderation.'^ 

As they stripped his decx)ration8 and 
his ribbons from his breast, he drew 
himself up with a touching and grace- 
ful air, and said to the officer, saluting : 

"They have left me nothing but my 
scars.-" 

Such a man, however, tiger and but<!h- 
er as he was, had need of the army and 
the army had need of him. The Empe- 
ror gave him back his rank, his orders, 
his decorations, and gave him as well 
his exile into Mexico. 

MaximiJian refused him ; Ba.?;ain« 
found work for his sword. Even 
then that fatal quarrel was in its be'gin- 



44 



SHEI.By's expedition to MEXICO 



ning wliicli, later, was to leave a kiug- 
dom det'euceless, and aa Empeior with- 
out an arsenal or a siege-gun. Dupiu 
was ordered to recruit a regiment of 
Coutre Guerrillas, that is to say, a regi- 
ment of Free Companions who were to 
be supurbly armed and mounted, 
and who were to follow the 
Mexican guerrilhis thi'ough copse 
and chapparal, through lowland 
and lag'oon, sparing no man 
upon wiiom hands were hiid, lighting all 
men who had arms in their bands, and 
who coidd he found or broug-ht to bay. 

Murder with Dux)in was a tine art. 
Mistress or maid he had none. That 
cold, brown face, classic a little in its 
outlines, and retaining yet a little of its 
tierce Southern beauty, never grew soft 
save when the battle was wild and the 
wreck of the carnage ghastly and thick. 
On the eve of confliet he had been 
known to smile. When he laughed or 
sang his men made the sign of the cross. 
They knew death was ready at arm's 
length, and that in an hour he would 
put his sickle in amid the rows and reap 
savagely a fresh harvest of simple yet 
oftending Mexicans. Of all things left 
to him from the sack of tliat Pekiu pal- 
ace, one thing alone remained, typical 
of the tiger thirst that old age, nor dis- 
grace, nor wounds, nor rough 
foreign service, nor anything: hu- 
man, had power potent enough to 
quench or assua.ge. Victor Hugo, 
in his "Toilers of the Sea," has 
woven it into the stoi-y after this fash- 
ion, looking straight, perhaps, into the 
eyes of the cruel soldier who, in all his 
life, has never listened to prayer or 
priest : 

"A piece of silk stolen during the last 
war from the palace of the Emperor of 
China, rex)resented a shai'k eating a 
crocodile, who is eating a serpent, who 
is devouring an eagle, who is preying on 
a swallow, who is in his turn eating a 
caterpillar. All nature which is under 
our observation is thus alternately de- 
x*ouring and devoured. The prey prey 
f^ft each other." 

Dupia pi'f^jfed upon hh species. H© 



rarely killed outright. He had a theory, 
often put into practice, which was dia- 
l)olical. 

"Wlien you kill a Mexican," he would 
say, "that is the end of him. When you 
cut off an arm or a leg that throws him 
uiKTi! the charity of his friends, and then 
two or three must support him; Those 
who make corn cannot make soldiers. 
Tt is economy to amputate." 

Hundreds tluis passed under the 
hands of his surgeons. His maimed 
and mutilated were in every toAvn from 
Mier to MoHterey. On occasions when 
the march had been pleasant and the 
vrine generous, he would permit chloro- 
form for the operation. Otherwise not. 
It distressed him for a victim to die 
beneath the knife. 

"You bunglers endanger my theory," 
he would cry out to his surgeons. 
" Why can't you cut without killing ?" 

The "Tiger of the Tropics" also had 
his playful moods. He v/ould stretch 
himself in the sun, overpower one with 
gentleness and attention, say soft 
things in whispers, quote poetry on oc- 
casions, make of himself an elegant 
host, serve the wine, laugh low and 
lightsomely, wake up all of a sudden a 
demon, and — MIL 

One instance of this is yet a terrible 
memory in Monterey, 

An extremely wealthy and influential 
Mexican, Don Vincente Ibarra, was at 
hottie upon his hacienda one day about 
noon as Dupin marched by. Perhaps 
this man was a Liberal; certainly he 
sympathized with Juarez and had done 
much for the cause in the shape of re- 
cruiting and resistance to the predatory 
bands of Imperialists. As yet, however, 
he had taken up no arms, and had paid 
his proportion of the taxes levied upon 
him by Jeanningros. 

Dupin was at dinner when his scouts 
brought Ibarra into camp. In front of 
the tent was a lai'ge tree m full leaf, 
whose spreading branches made an ex- 
tensive and most agreeable shade. Un- 
der this the Frencbman bad a camn- 
stool placed for the comfort of the 
Mexican , 



AX I'XWKITTEX LEAF OF TlIK WAR. 



45 



"Be seated," he said to Iniii iu a voice 
no harslier than tlie wind anioiiLi- the 
leaves overhead. "And, waiter, hiy 
another phxte for my trieud." 

The meal was a delishttul one. Dii- 
pin talked as a subject who had a prince 
for liis guest, and ari a lover who had a 
woman for his listener. In the inter- 
vals of the conversation he served the 
wine. Ibarra was delighted. His sus- 
picious kSpauisli heart relaxed the tension 
of its grirn defence, aud he even stroked 
the tiger's velvet skin, who closed 
his sleepy eyes and purred under the 
cnress. 

When the wine was at its full cigars 
were handed. Behind the white cloud 
of the smoke, Dupin's face darkened. 
Suddenly he spoke^ to Ibarra, pointing 
up to the tree : 

"What % fine shade it makes, .Seuor ? 
Do such trees ever bear fruit f " 

"Never, Colonel. AVhat a question." 

"Never? All things !ire possible with 
God, why not with a Frenchman f 

" Because a Frenchman believes so 
little in G-od, perhaps." 
_ The face grew darker and darker. 

"Are your affairs prosperous. Sen or!" 

" As much so as these times will per- 
mit." 

"Very good. You have just five 
minutes in which to make them better. 
At the end of that time I will hang you 
on that tree so sure as you are a Mesi- 
can. What ho ! Capt, Jacan, turn out 
the guard !" 

Ibarra's deep olive face grew ghastly 
white, and he fell upon his knees. No 
prayers, no agonizing entreaty, no des- 
pairing supplication wrungfrom a strong 
man in his agony availed him aught. 
At the appointed time his rigid frame 
swung between heaven aod earth, an- 
other victim to the mood of one who 
never knew an hour of penitence or 
mercy. The tree had borne fruit. 

And so this manner of a man — this 
white-haired Dupin— decorated, known 
to two Continents as the "Tiger of the 
Tropics," who kept four picked Chas- 
seurs to stand guard about and over 
him night and day, this old-young sol- 



dier, with a voice like a school-girl and 
a heart like a glocier, came to Monte- 
rey and recruited a regiment of Coutre- 
Guerrillas, a regiment that feared nei- 
ther God, man, tlie Mexicans nor the 
devil. 

Under him as a Captain was Charles 
Ney, the grandson of that other Ney 
who cried out to D'Erlon at Waterloo, 
"Come and see how a Marshal of France 
dies on the field of battle." 

In C'aptain Ney's company there were 
two squadrons— a French squadron and 
an American squadron, the last having 
for its commander Capt. Frank Moore, 
of Alabama. Under Moore were one 
hundred splendid Confederate soldiers 
who, refusing to surrender, had sought 
exile, and had stranded upon that inev- 
itable lee shore called necessity. Be- 
tween the Scylla of short rations and 
the Charybdis of empty pockets, the 
only channel possible was the open sea. 
So into sailed John C. Moore, Armistead, 
Williams, and tlic I'est oi' iliiit American 
squadron which was to become famous 
from Matamoras to Matehuala. 

This much b}^ the way of preface has 
been deemed necessary in order that an 
accurate narrative may be made of the 
murder of Gen. M. M. Parsons, of Jef- 
ferson City, his brother-in-law, Col. 
Standish, of the same place, the Hon, 
M. D, Conrow, of Caldwell county, and 
three gallant young Irishmen, James 
Moouey, Patrick Langdon, and Michael 
Monarthy. Ruthlessly butchered iu a 
foreign couiitry, they yet had avengers. 
When the tale was told to Col. Dupin, 
by John Moore, he listened as an Indian 
in ambush might to the heavy tread of 
some unwai-y and approaching trapper. 
After the story had been finished be 
asked abruptly: 

"What would you Americans have." 

"Permission," said Moore, "to gather 
up what is left of our comrades and 
bury what is left." 

"And strike a^ good, fair blow in re- 
turn?" 

"Maybe so, Colonel." 

"Then march at daylight with your 
squadron. Let me hear wb^iD you re- 



46 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



turn that not one stone upon another of 
the robber's rendezvous has been left. 

Gen. M. M. Parsons had commanded 
a division of Missouri infantry with 
great credit to himself, and with great 
honor to the State. He was a soldier of 
re.uarkable y)ersoual beauty, of great 
dash in battle, of unsurpassed horse- 
manship, and of that graceful and nat- 
ural suavity of manner which endeared 
liim alike to his brother officers and to 
the men over whom he was placed in 
command. His brother-in-law, Col. 
Standish, was his chief of statf, and a 
frank, fearless young officer whom the 
Missourians knew and admired. Capt. 
Aaron H. Conxow had before the war 
represented Caldwell county in the Leg- 
islature, and had, during the war, been 
elected to the Confederate Congress. 
With these three men were three brave 
and faithful young Irish soldiers, James 
Mooney, Patrick Langdon and Michael 
Monarthy — six in all who, for the crime 
of being Americans, had to die. 

Following in the rear of Shelby's ex- 
I>edition in the vain hope of overtaking 
it, they reached the neighborhood of 
Pedras Negras too late to cross the Rio 
Grrande there. A strong body of guer- 
rillas had moved up into the town and 
occupied it immediately after Shelby's 
withdrawal. Crossing the river, how- 
ever, lower down, they had entered 
Mexico in safety, and had won their per- 
ilous way to Monterey without serious 
loss or molestation. Not content to go 
further at that time, and wishing to re- 
turn to Camargo for purposes of com- 
munication with Texas, they availed 
themselves of the protection of a tiain 
of supply wagons sent by Jeauningros, 
heavily guarded by Imperial Mexican 
soldiers, to Matamoras. Jeauningros 
gave them safe conduct as far as possi- 
ble, and some good advice as well, which 
advice simply warned them against 
trusting anything whatever to Mexican 
courage or Mexican faith. 

The wagon train and its escort ad- 
vanced well on their way to Matamoras 
—well enough at least to be beyond the 
range of French eucror should the worst 



come to the worst. But on the evening 
of the fourth day, in a narrow defile at 
the crossing of an exceedingly rapid and 
dangerous stream, the escort was furi- 
ously assailed by a large body of Juaris- 
tas, checked at once, and finally driven 
back. Gen. Parsons and his party re- 
treated with the rest until the night's 
camp was reached, when a little council 
of war was called by the Americans. 
Courow and Standish were in favor of 
abandoning the trip for the present, es- 
pecially as the whole country was 
aroused and in waiting for the train, 
and more especially as tlie guerrillas, at- 
tracted by the scent of plunder, 
were swarming upon the roads and 
in ambush by every pass and 
beside the fords of every stream. Gen. 
Parsons overruled them, and deter- 
mined to make the venture as soon as 
the moon arose, in the direction of Ca- 
margo. 

None took issue with him further. 
Accustomed to exact obedience, much 
of the old soldierly spirit was still in ex- 
istence, and so they followed him blind- 
ly and with alacrity. At daylight the 
next morning the entire party was cap- 
tured. Believing, however, that the 
Americans were bit the advance of a 
larger and more formidable party, tlie 
Mexicans neither dismounted nor dis- 
armed them,. While at breakfast, and 
at the word of command from Gen. 
Parsons, the whole six galloped off un- 
der a fierce fire of musketry, unhurt, 
bafiiing all pursuit, and gaining some 
good hours' advantage over tbeix cap- 
tors. It availed them nothing, however. 
About noon of the second day they were 
again captured, this time falling into 
the hands of Figueroa, a roblx'r chief 
as notorious among the >rexicans as Du- 
pin was among the French. 

Short shrift came afterwards. Col. 
Standish was shot first. When told of 
the fate intended for him, be bade good- 
bye to his comrades, knelt a few mo- 
ments in silent prayer, and then stood 
up firmly, facing his mnrdercrs. At 
the discharge of the musketry platoon, 
he was dead before he touched the 



AX UNWRITTKX LEAF OF TIIK WAR. 



47 



ground. Two bullets pieced bis gen- 
erous and dauntless beart. 

Captain Aaron H. Conrow died next. 
He expected no mercy, and be made no 
plea for life. A request to be permitted 
to write a few lines to bis wife was de- 
nied bim, Figueroa^ savagely ordering 
the execution to proceed. The tiring 
party sbortened the distance between it 
and tbeir victim, placing bim but tbree 
feet away from tbe muzzles of tbeir 
muskets. Like Standisb be refused to 
bave bis eyes bandaged. Knowing but 
few words of Spanisb, be called out in 
bis brave, quick fasbion, and in bis own 
language, " Fire !" and the death be got 
was certain and instantaneous. He fell 
witbin a few paces of bis comrade, 
dead like bim before be toucbtd tbe 
ground. 

Tbe last moments of tbe tbree young 
Irish soldiers bad now come. They bad 
seen tbe stern killing of Standisb and 
Conrow, and tbey neitber trembled nor 
turned pale. It can do no good to ask 
what thougbts were theirs, and if from 
over the waves of tbe wide Atlantic 
some visions came tbat were strangely 
and sadl}^ out of place in front of tbe 
cliapparal and tbe sandalled Mexicans. 
Monartby asked for a piiest and receiv- 
ed one. He was a kind-bearted, igno- 
rant Indian, who would bave saved tiiem 
if be could, but safe from tbe bloody 
bands of Figueroa no foreigner bad ever 
yet come. The tbree men confessed 
and received sucb consolation as the liv- 
ing could give to men as good as dead. 
Then tbey joined bands and spoke some 
earnest words together for tbe brief 
space permitted them. Langdon, tbe 
youngest, was only twenty-two. A 
resident of Mobile when tbe war com- 
menced, be bad volunteered in a bat- 
tery, had been captured at Yicksbui'g, 
and bad, latei-, joined Pindall's battalion 
of sbarpsbooteis in Parsons' Di^^sion. 
He bad a face like a young girl's, it w-as 
so fair and fresh. All who knew bim 
loved biin. In all tbe Confederate army 
tbere was neither braver nor better sol- 
dier. Mooney was a man of fifty-five, 
with an iron frame and witb a gaunt 



scarred, rugged face tbat was yet kindly 
and attractive. He took Langdou in his 
arms and kissed bim twice, once on each 
cheek, sliook bands witb Monaitby, ami 
opened his breast. The close, deadly 
fire was received standing and witb eyes 
wide open. Langdon died without a 
struggle, Mooney groaned twice and 
tried to speak. Death finished the sen- 
tence ere it was commenced. Monartby 
required tbe coup de grace. A soldier 
went close to bim, rested the muzzle of 
bis musket against bis bead and tired. 
He was very quiet tben; the murder was 
done; five horrible corpses lay in a ])ool 
of blood; tbe shadows deepened; and the 
cruel eyes of Figueroa roamed, as tbe 
eyes of a tiger, from the ghastly faces of 
tbe dead to the stern, set face of tbe liv- 
ing. Greneral Parsons felt tbat for 
him, too, tbe supreme moment bad come 
at last. 

Left in tbat terrible period alone, none 
this side eternity will ever know what 
be sultered and endured. Waiting ])a- 
tiently for bis sentence, a respite was 
granted. Some visions of ransom must 
bave crossed Figueroa's mind. Clad in 
tbe sbowy and attractive uniform of a 
Confederate Major-Geueral, Jiaving the 
golden stars of his rank upon bis collar, 
magnificently mounted, and being with- 
al a remarkably handsome and com- 
manding-looking soldier bimseif , it was 
for a time at least thought best to bold 
bim a prisoner. His horse even was 
given back to bim, and for some miles 
f urtlier towards Matamoras be was per- 
mitted to ride witii those who bad cap- 
tured him. 1 he Captain of tbe guard 
immediately in charge of bis person bad 
also a very fine horse, whose speed be 
was continually boasting of. Fortu- 
nately this officer spoke English, thus 
permitting Gen. Parsons to converse 
with him. Much bantering was bad 
concerning the speed of the two horses. 
A race was at length proposed. 
Tlie two men started olf at 
a furious gallop, the American 
steadily gaining upon tbe Mexican. 
Finding bimseif in danger of being 
distanced, tbe Captain drew up and or- 



istl1iLfiY\s Kxi'EblTiOls[ to MUMCti 



dered his competitor in the race to halt. 
Unheeding the command, Gen. Parsons 
dashed on with the utmost speed, escap- 
ing the shots from the revolver of the 
Mexican, and eluding entirely Figueroa 
and his command. Although in a coun- 
try tilled with treacherous and blood- 
thirsty savages, and ignorant of the 
loads and the language, Gren. Parsons 
might have reduced the chances against 
him in the proportion of ten to one, had 
he concealed himself in some neighbor- 
ing chapparal and waited until the 
night fell. He did not do this, but con- 
tinued his flight rapidl}" down the broad 
highway wliich ran directly from Mon- 
terey to Matamoras. There could be 
but one result. A large scouting parry 
of Figueroa's forces, returning to the 
headquarters of their chief, met him be- 
fore he had ridden ten miles, again took 
bim 7)r]soner, and again delivered him 
into the hands of the ferocious bandit. 
Death followed almost instantly. 
None who witnessed the deed have 
ever told how he died, but three days 
afterward Lis body was found stripped 
by the wayside, literally shot to pieces. 
Some Mexicans then buried it, marking 
the unhallowed spot w'ith a cross. Af- 
terward Figueroa, dressed in the full 
uDiform of General Parsons, was in oc- 
cupation of Caniargo. while the Sijnie 
Colonel Johnson, W'ho had followed 
Shelby southwardly from San 
Antonio, held the opposite shore 
of the Rio Grande on tlie American 
side. Figueroa, gloating over the sav- 
ageness of the deed, and imagining, in 
his stolid Indian cunning, that the Fed- 
eral officers would pay handsomely for 
the spoils of the murdered Confederate, 
proiiered to deliver to him Gen Parsons' 
coat, pistols and private papers for a 
certain specified sum, detailing, at the 
same time, with revolting accui'acy, the 
merciless particulars of the butchery. 
Horrified at the cool rapacity of the rob- 
ber, and thinking only of Gen. Parsons 
as an American and a brotlier,Col.John- 
son tried for wrecks to entice Figueroa 
across the river, intending to do a righ- 
teous vengeance ujion hira. Too Avily 



and too cowardly to be caught, he 
moved back suddenly into the interior, 
sending a message afterwards to Col. 
Johnson full of taunting and defiance. 

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man^ 
shall his ow u blood be shed. Dupiu's 
avengers were on the track, iml^ued 
with Dupin'sspirit,and having over them 
the stern memory of Dupin's laconic or- 
ders. Leave not one stone upon anoth- 
er. And why should there be habita- 
tions when the inhabitants w^ere sc.attei- 
ed or killed. 

Las Flores was a flower-town, beauti- 
ful in name, and beautiful in the blue of 
the skies which bent over it; in the blue 
of the mountains which caught the 
morning and Avove for it a gossamer 
robe of amethyst and pearl; in the soug 
and flovv of running water, where wo- 
men sat and sang, and combed their 
dusky hair; and in the olden, immemmo- 
rial groves, filled with birds that had 
gold for plumage, and sweet seed and 
sunshine for ma ring and wooing songs. 
Hither would come Figueroa in the 
lull of the long marches, and in the re- 
laxation of the nights of ambush, and 
the days of watching and starving. 
Booty and beauty, and singing maidens 
all w^ere there. There red gold would 
buy right royal kisses, and there feast- 
ing and minstrelsy told of the pillage 
done, and tlie rapine and slaughter be- 
yond the sweep of the mountains that 
cut the sky line. 

God help all of them who tarried till 
the American squadron charged into the 
town, one hundred rank and file, Frank 
Moore leading — all who had beartl upo n 
their faces or guns within their hands. 
A trusty guide had made the morn ing a 
surprise. It was not yet daylight. Some 
white mist, like a corpse abandoning a 
bier, Avas creeping up from the low- 
lands. The music and the lights had 
died out in the streets. The east, not 
yet awakened, had on its face the placid 
pallor of slee]). What birds flew Avere 
weary of wing and voiceless in t!ie so- 
ber hush of dreamless nature. 

Leav^e not one stone upon anotlier. And 
the fjices of the Americans were set as a 



AM UmVRiTTEN T.EAF OF TTIE WAR. 



49 



flint and tlie massacre began. Never 
were six men so terribly avenged. It 
need not be told what flames were there, 
whatbarsli and gutteral oaths, what 
tawny faces blanched and grew white, 
what cries, and vollies, and shrieks, and 
deaths tliat made no moan arose on the 
morning, and scared the mist from the 
water, the paradise birds from their 
bowers amid the limes and the orange 
trees. It was over at last. Call the roll 
and gather up the corpses. Fifteen 
Americans dead, eleven wounded, and 
so many Mexicans that you could not 
count them. Las Flores, the City of the 
Flowers, had become to be Las Cruces. 
the City of the Crosses. 

When the tale was told to Dupin, he 
rubbed his brown bare hands and lent 
his arm on his subaltern's shoulder. 

" Tell me about it again," he ordered. 

The tale was told. 

" Oh ! brave Americans !" he shouted. 
"Americans after my own heart. You 
shall be saluted with sloping standards 
and uncovered heads." 

The bugles rang out "to horse," the 
regiment got under arms, the American 
squadron passed in review along the 
ranks, the flags were lowered and in- 
clined, officers and men uncovered as 
the files marched down the lines, there 
were greetings and rejoicings, and from 
the already lengthened life of the white- 
haired commander five good years of 
toil and exposure had been taken. For 
a week thereafter he was seen to smile 
and to be glad. After that the old, 
wild work commenced again. 



CHAPTER X. 
In Monterey, at the time of Shelby's 
araval, there Avasi one man who had fig- 
ured somewhat extensively in a role new 
to most Americans. This man was the 
Hon. William M. Gwin, ex-United 
States Senator and ex-Governor of Cal- 
ifornia. He had been to France and 
just returned. Accomplished in all of the 
social graces ; an aristocrat born and a 
bit of an Imperialist as well; full of wise 
words and sage reflections ; graceful in 

7A 



his conversation and charming over his 
wine ; having the political history of his 
country at heart as a young Catholic 
does his catechism ; fond of the pomp 
and the paraphernalia of royalty; noth- 
ing of a soldier but much of a diplomat- 
ist; a stranger to reverence and a <'0S- 
mopolitau in religion, he was a right 
proper man to hold court in Sonora, the 
Mexican province whose affairs i^ie was 
administer upon as a Duke. Napoleon 
had granted him letters patent for this, 
and for this he had ennobled him. It is 
nowhere recorded that he took posses- 
sion of his province. Granted an audi- 
ence by Maximilian he laid his plans be- 
fore him and asked for a prompt install- 
ment into the administration of the 
dukedom. It was refused peremptorily. 
At the mercy of Bazaine, and having no 
soldiers wort^iy the name other than 
Fiench soldiers, the Mexican Emperor 
had weighty reasons besides private 
ones for such refusal. It was not time 
for the coquettries of Empire before that 
Empire had an army, a bank account, 
and a clean bill of health. Gwin be- 
came indignant, Bazaine became amus- 
ed, and Maximilian became disgusted. 
In the end the Duke left the country 
and the guerillas seized upon the duke- 
dom. When Shelby reached Monterey, 
ex-Governor Gwin was outward bound 
for Matamoras, reaching the United 
States later only to be imprisoned in 
Fort Jackson below New Orleans for 
several long and weary months. The 
royal sufferer had most excellent com- 
pany — although Democratic aod there- 
fore unsympathetic. General John B. 
Clark, returning about the same time, 
was pounced upon and duly iucarcera 
ted. Gwin attempted to convert him 
to imperalism, but it ended by Clark 
bringing Gwin back to Democracy. 
And a noble Missourian was "Old" Gen- 
eral Clark, as the soldiers loved to call 
him. Lame from a wound received 
while leading his brigade gallantly into 
action at Wilson's Creek, penniless in a 
land for whose sake he had given up 
gladly a magnificent fortune, pro- 
scribed of the government, a pris- 



50 



SHELBY*S EXPEDITION TO MEXtCO ', 



oner without a country, an exile 
who was not permitted to 
return in peace, dogmatic and defiant to 
the last, he went into Fort Jackson a 
rebel, remained a rebel there, came 
away a rebel, and a rebel he will con- 
tinue to be as long: as life permits him 
to use the rough Anglo Saxon oaths 
Avhich ,go to make up his rebel vocabu- 
lary. On the march into Mexico he had 
renewed his youth. In the night watches 
he told tales of his boyhood, and by the 
camp fires he replenished anew the fires 
of his memory. Hence all the anec- 
dotes that amused — all the reminiscences 
wliicli deliglited. At the crossing of the 
Salinas river he fell in beside Gen. Shel- 
by, a musket in his hand, and the old 
ardor of battle upon his stern and wea- 
ther-beaten face. 

"Where would you go'?" asked Shelby. 

"As tar as you go, my young man." 

"Not this day, my old friend, if I can 
help it. There are younger and less val- 
uable men wlio shall take this risk alone. 
Get out of the ranks, General. The 
column can not advance unless you do." 

Forced against his will to retire, he 
was mad for a week, and only recovered 
his amiability after being permitted to 
engage in tlie night encounter at the 
Pass of the Palms. 

Before marching northward from Mon- 
terey, Shelby sought one last interview 
with Gen. Jeanningros. It was courte- 
ously accorded. Gen. Preston, who had 
gone forward from Texas to open nego- 
tiations with Maximilian, and who had 
reached Mexico City in safety, had not 
yet reported the condition of his sur- 
soundiugs. It was Shelby's desire to 
take military service in the Empire since 
his men had refused to become the fol- 
lowers of Juarez at Piedras Negras. 
Knowing that a corps of fifty thousand 
Americans could be recruited in a few 
months after a base of operations had 
once been established, he sought the ad- 
vice of Gen. Jeanningros to this end, 
meaning to deal franklj- with him, and 
to discuss fully his plans and purposes. 

Jeanningros had grown gray in the 
service. He acknowledged but one 



standard of perfection— success. Never 
mind the means, so only the end was 
glory and France. The camps had made 
him cruel; the barracks had given to 
this cruelty a kind of fascinating rhet- 
oric. Sometimes he dealt in parables. 
One of these told more of the paymas- 
ter than the Zouave, more of Minister 
Rouher than Marshal McMahon. He 
would say : 

"Napoleon and Maximilian have form- 
ed a partnership. To get it well agoing 
much money has been spent. Some 
bargains have been bad, and some ves- 
sels have been lost. There is a crisis at 
hand. More capital is needed to save 
what has already been invested, and for 
one, rather than lose the millions swal- 
lowed up yesterday, I would put in as 
many more millions to-day. It is econ- 
omy to hold on." 
Shelby went straight at his work : 
"I do not know what you think of 
things here. General, nor of the outcome 
the future has in store for the Empire, 
but one thing is certain, I shall tell you 
the plain truth. The Federal Govern- 
ment has no love for your French occu- 
pation of Mexico. If diplomacy can't 
get you out, infantry divisions will. I 
left a large army concentrating upon the 
Rio Grande, and all the faces of all the 
men were looking straight forward into 
Mexico. Will Fiance fight '^ For oi^e, I 
hope so ; but it seems to me that if your 
Emperor had meant to be serious in this 
thing, his plan should have been to have 
formed an alliance long ago, olt'ensive 
and defensive, with Jefferson Davis. 
This, in the event of success, would 
have guaranteed you the whole country, 
and obliged you as well to have opened 
the ports of Charleston, Savannah and 
New Orleans. Better battles could liave 
been fought on the Potomac than on the 
Rio Grande ; surer results would have 
followed from a French landing at Mo- 
bile than at Tampico or Vera Cruz. 
You have waited too long. Flushed 
with a triumphant termination of the 
war, American diplomacy now means 
the Monroe Doctrine, pure aid simple 
with a little of Yankee brutality and 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



51 



braggadocio thrown in. Give me a port 
as a basis of operations, and I can or- 
ganize an American force capable of 
keeping Maximilian upon bis throne. If 
left discretionary . witli me, that port 
shall be either Gnaytnas or Mazatlan. 
The Califovnians love adventure, and 
many leaders among them have already 
sent messengers to me with overtures. 
My agent at the Capital has not yet re- 
])orted, and, consequently, I am unin- 
formed as to the wishes of the Em- 
peror; but one tiling is certain, the 
French cannot remain, and be cannot 
rule over Mexicans witli Mexicans. 
Witliout foreign aid he is lost. You 
Ivuow Bazaine better than I do, and so 
what would Bazaine say to all this f 

Jeanningros heard him patiently to the 
end, answering Shelby as frankly as he 
had been addressed : 

"There will be no war between France 
and the Uoited States, and of this you 
may rest assured. I cannot answer for 
Marshal Bazaine, nor for his wishes and 
intentions. There is scant love, how- 
ever, between his excellency and Maxi- 
milian, because one is a scholar and the 
other is a soldier; but I do not think 
the Marshal would be averse to the em- 
ployment of American soldiers in the 
service of the empire. You have my 
full permission to march to the Pacific, 
and to take such other steps as will 
seem best to you in the matter of which 
you have just spoken. The day is not 
far distant when every French soldier 
in Mexico will be withdrawn, although 
this would not necessarily destroy the 
Empire. Who will take their places";? 
Mexicans. Bah! beggars ruling oA^er 
beggars, cut-throats lying in wait for 
cut-throats, traitors on the inside mak- 
ing signs for traitors on the outside to 
come in. Not thus are governments up- 
held and administered. Healthy blood 
must be poured through every efiete and 
corrupted vein of this effete and corrup- 
ted nation ere the Austrian can sleep a 
good man's sleep in his palace of Che- 
pultepec." 

The interview ended, and Shelby 
marched northward to Saltillo. The 



first camp beyond was upon the battle 
field of Buena Vista. It was sunset 
when the column reached the memora- 
ble and historic field. A gentle rain in 
the morning had washed the grass until 
it shone— had washed the trees until the 
leaves glistened and smelt of perfume. 
After the bivouac was made, silence and 
twilight, as twin ghosts, crept up the 
glade togetlu r. Nest spoke unto neijt 
in the gloaming, and bade good-night 
as the moon arose. It was an harvest 
moon, white, and splendid, and large as 
a tent-leaved palm. Away over to the 
left a mountain arose, where the mist 
gathered and hung dependent as the 
locks of a giant. The left of the Ameri- 
can army had rested there. In its shad- 
ows had McKee fallen, and there had 
Hardin died, and there had the lance's 
point found Yell's dauntless heart, and 
there had the young Clay yielded up 
his precious life in its stainless 
and its spotless prime. The great rav- 
ine still cut the level plain asunder. 
Rank mesquite grew all along the crest 
of the deadly hill where the Mississip- 
pians formed, and where, black-lipped 
and waiting, Bragg's battery crouched 
in ambush at its feet. Shining as a sat- 
in band, the broad highway lay white 
under the moonlight towards Saltillo— 
the highway to gain which Santa Anna 
dashed his desperate army in vain — the 
highway which held the rear, and the 
life and the fame of the Northern hand- 
ful. 

Gen. Hindman, a soldier in the regi- 
ment of Col. Jefferson Davis, explored 
the field under the moon and the stars, 
having at his back a regiment of young- 
er Americans who, although the actors 
in a direr and more dreadful war, yet 
clung on to their earliest superstitions 
and their spring-time faith in ti'e glory 
and the carnage of Buena Vista. He 
made the camp a long to be remembered 
one. Here a squadron charged; there a 
Lancer regiment, gaily caparisoned in 
scarlet and gold, crept onward and on- 
ward until the battery's dun smoke 
broke as a wave over pennant and 
plume; here the grim Northern lines 



52 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



reeled and rallied; there the sandalled 
Mexicans, rent into fragments, swarmed 
into the jaws of the ravine, crouching 
low as the- hot tempest of grape and 
canister rushetl over and bej^ond them; 
yonder, where the rank grass is greenest 
and freshest, the uncoffined dead were 
buried; and everywhere, upon the right 
and the left, the little mounds arose, 
gniiirding for ever more the sacred dust 
of the stranger slain. 

The midnight came, and the harvest 
moon, as a spectral boat, was floating 
away to the west in a tide of silver and 
gold. The battle-field lay under the 
great, calm face of the sky— a sepulchre. 
Looking out from his bivouac who 
knows what visions came to the musing 
soldier, as grave after grave gave up its 
dead, and as spirit after spirit put on 
its uniform and its martial array. Pale 
squadrons galloped again through the 
gloom of the powder-pall; again the 
deep roar of the artillery lent its mighty 
voice to swell the thunder of the gather- 
ing battle; again the rival flags rose and 
fell in the "hot, lit foreground of the 
fight ;" again the Lancers charged ; 
piercing, and sweet, and wildly shrill, 
the bugles again called out for victory; 
and again from out the jaws of the cav- 
ernous ravine a tawny tide emerged, 
clutching fiercely at the priceless road, 
and falling there in giant windrows as 
the Slimmer hay when the scythe of the 
reai);:a',s tr.kes the gra,ss that is rankest. 

The moon went down. The mirage 
disappeared, and only the silent and de- 
serted battle-field lay out under the 
stars, its low trees wa^^ng in the night 
wind, and its droning katydids sighing 
in the grasses aboAc de gi-^ives. 



CHAPTER XI. 
From Parras tliere was a broad, na- 
tional highway running directly to So- 
nora, and so Shelby marched from Sal- 
tillo to Parras, intending to rest there a 
few days and then continue on to the 
Pacific, keeping steadily in view the ad- 
vice and the information given him by 
Gen, Jeanningros. 



His entrance into the city was stormy, 
and his reception there had neither sun- 
light nor temperate air about it. Indeed 
none of the Parras vvindsblew him good. 
When \\ ithin two days' march of Parras 
a sudden rain storm came out of the sky, 
literally inundating the ground of the 
bivouac. The watch fires were all put 
out. Sleep was banished, and in the 
noisy jubilation of the wind a guerrilla 
band stole down upon the camp. Dick 
Collins, James Kirtley, George Winship 
and James Meadow were on picquet du- 
ty at the mouth of a canyon on the 
north. They were peerless soldiers and 
they knew how to keep their powder 
dry. The unseen moon had gone dowu, 
and the rain and the wind warred with 
each other. Some black objects rose up 
between the eyes of Winship on the out- 
ermost post, and the murky clouds, yet 
a little light, above the darker jaws of 
the canyon. Weather proofs Winship 
spoke to Collins : 

•" There is game afoot. No peace- 
ful thing travels on such a devil's night 
as this." 

The four men gathered closer 
together, watching. Of a sudden a 
tawny .and straggling kind of 
flame leaped out ftoni the can- 
3^011 and showed the faces of the Ameri- 
cans, one to another. They were all 
resolute and determined. They told 
how the dauntless four meant to stand 
there, and fight tliere, and die there, if 
needs be, until the sleeping camp could 
get well upon its feet. Sheltered a little 
by the darkness, and more by the rocks 
before and around them, they held des- 
perately on, four men fighting two hun- 
dred. The strange combat waxed hotter 
and closer. Under the murky night the 
guerrillas crawled ever- nearer and near- 
er. Standing closely together the Amer- 
icans fired at the flMshes of the Mexican 
muskets. As yet they had not resorted 
to their revolvers. Trained to perfect- 
ion in the use of Sharp's carbines, their 
guns seemed alwii.v.s hKiditl. f'oilins 
spoke first in his quaint, characteristic 
way : 

" Boys, it's hot despite the rain." 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



53 



"It will be hotter," answered Wm- 
sliip. 

Then tbe wild work commenced again. 
Tills time they could not load their car- 
l)iues. The rcAHilvers had taken part in 
the melee. Kirtley was hit badly in the 
left arm, Collins was bleeding from an 
ngly wound in the right shoulder, Mead- 
ow and \V in ship each were struck slight- 
ly, and the guerrillas were ready for the 
death grapple. Neither thought of giv- 
ing one inch of ground. The wind blew 
furiously and the rain poured down. At 
the moment when the final rush had 
come, the piercing notes of Shelby's bu- 
gle were heard, and clearer and nearer 
and deadlier the great shout of an on- 
coming host, leaping swiftly forward 
to the rescue. Past the four men on 
guard, Shelby leading, the tide poured 
into the pass. What happened there the 
daylight revealed. It was sure enough 
and ghastly enough to satisfy ail, and 
better for some if the sunlight had 
never uncovered to kindred eyes the 
rigid corpses lying stark and stift where 
they had fallen. 

All at once a furious fire of musketry 
was heard in the rear, and in amid the 
tethered horses. Again the bugle's notes 
were heard, and again Shelby's rallying 
voice rang out : 

''Countermach for your lives. Make 
haste ! — make haste ! — the very clouds 
are raining Mexicans to-night." 

It was a quarter of a mile to the camp. 
The swiftest men got there first. Sure 
enough the attack had been a most for- 
midable one. Slayback and Cundiff' 
held the post in the rear and were fight- 
ing desperately. On foot, in the dark- 
ness, and attacked by four hundred 
guerrillas well acciuainted with the whole 
country, they had yet neither been sur- 
prised nor diiveu back. Woe unto tie 
horses if they had, and horses were as 
precious gold. Attracted only by the 
firing, and waiting for no orders, there 
had rushed to the rearward p >stMcDou- 
gall, Fell, Dorsey, Macey, Ras Wood, 
Charley Jones, Vines, Armistead and 
Elliott. Some aroused from [their blan- 
kets, were hatless and bootless. Ingle- 



hardt snatched a lighted torch from a 
sheltered fire and attempted to light the 
yfaj. The rain put it out. Henry 
Chiles, having his family to pro- 
tect, knew, however, by instinct 
that the rear was in danger, and 
pressed forward with Jim Wood and 
the Berry brothers. Langhorne, from 
the left, bore down with John and Mar- 
tin Kritzer, where he had been all night 
with the herd, keeping vigilant watch. 
In the impenetrable darkness the men 
mistook each other. Moreland fired 
upon George Hall and shot away the 
collar of his overcoat. Hall recognized 
his voice and made himself known to 
him. Jake Connor, with the full swell 
and compass of his magnificent voice, 
struck up, "Tramp, tramp, the boys are 
marching," until, guided by the music 
of the song, the detached parties came 
together in the gloom and pressed on 
rapidly to the rear. 

It was time. Slayback and Cundiff, 
having only a detachment of twelve 
men, nine of whom were killed or woun- 
ded, were half surrounded. They, too, 
had refused to fall back. In the rain — 
m the darkness— having no authorized 
commander — fired on from three sides — 
ignorant of the number and the posi- 
tions of their assailants, they yet charg- 
ed furiously in a l>ody and drove every- 
thing before them. When Shelby ar- 
rived with reinforcements tlie combat 
was over. It had been the most persist- 
ent and bloody of the Expedition. Cal- 
culating their chances well, the guerril- 
las had attacked simultaneously from 
the front and rear, and fought with a 
tenacity unknown before in their his- 
tory. The horses were the prize, and 
right furiousl'' did they struggle for 
them. Close, reckless fighting ah)ne 
saved the camp and scattered the des- 
perate robbers in every direction among 
the mountains. 

Col. Depreuil, with the Fifty-second 
of the French line, held Parj-as, an ex- 
treme outpost on the north— the key, in 
fact, of the position towards Chihuahua 
and Sonora. Unlike Jeanniugros in 
many things, he was yet a fine soldier 



54 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



a most overbearing and tyrannical 
nian. Grathered together at Parras also, 
and waiting permission to march to 
Sonora, was Col. Terry, one of the 
famous principals in the Broderick duel, 
and a detachment of Texas, numbering, 
probably, twenty-five. Terry's own 
account of this memorable duel was all 
the more interesting because given by 
one who, of all others, tnew best the 
causes and the surroundings which ren- 
dered it necessary. In substance the 
following contains the main points of 
the narrative : 

"The political contest preceding the 
duel was exceptionally and bitterly per- 
sonal. Broderick recognized the code 
fully, and had once before fouglit and 
wounded liis man. He was cool, brave, 
dangerous and very determined. His 
influence over his ovv'n immediate fol- 
lowers and friends was more marked 
and emphatic than that exercised by 
any other man! have ever known. He 
excelled in organization and attack, and 
possessed luany of the most exalted 
qualities of a successful commander. 
As an orator he was i-ugged.yet insi^ired, 
reminding me somewhat of my own pic- 
turings of Mirabeau, without the gigan- 
tic persistence and intellect of Mirabeau. 
I do not desire to enter into even the 
details which led to the unfortunate 
meeting, for these have been given again 
and again in as many false and unnat- 
ural ways as possible. After the teims 
])ad all been fully discussed and agreed 
upon, and the time and place of the 
combat settled, I said confidentially to 
a friend of mine that I did not intend 
to kill Broderick. This friend seemed 
greatly surprised, and asked me, after a 
few moments' reflection, what I really 
intended to do in the matter^ My an- 
swer was that I simply desired to save 
my own life, and that I should only dis- 
able him. 'It is a dangerous game you 
arc playing,' he replied, 'and one likely 
to bring you trouble. Broderick is no 
trifling antagonist. He shoots to kill 
every time.' When I arrived on the 
field I had not changed my mind, but 
when I looked into his eyes, I saw mur- 



der there as plainly as murder was ever 
depicted, and then I hnew that one of 
us had to die. I put my life fairly 
against his own. His bearing was mag- 
nificent, and his nerve superbly cool. 
It has been asserted that I remarked to 
my second, while he was measuring the 
ground, that he must take short steps. 
This is untrue,for the ground was meas- 
ured twice, once by my own second, and 
once by the second of Broderick. Tliey 
both agreed perfectly. The dis- 
tance was ten paces, and 
in size neither had the advantage. I 
felt confident of killing him, however, 
but if required to give a reason for this 
belief I could not give either a sensible 
or an intelligent reason. You know the 
result. He fell at the first fire, shot 
through the neck and mortally wounded. 
I did not approach him afterward, nor 
were any attempts made at reconcilia- 
tion. At the hands of his friends I re- 
ceived about as large a share of person- 
al abuse as usually falls to the lot of a 
man ; at the hands of my friends I had 
no reason to cornplain of their generous 
support and confidence. When the war 
commenced I left California as a volun- 
teer in the Confederate army, and am 
here to-day, like the rest of you, a pen- 
niless and an adventurous man. What 
a strange thing is destiny ? I some- 
times think we can neither mar nor 
make our fortunes, but have to live the 
life that is ordained for us. The future 
nobody knows. Perhaps it is best to 
take it as we find it, and bow gracefully 
when we come face to face with the in- 
evitable." 

Colonel Terry had felt his own sor- 
rows, too, in the desperate struggle. 
One brother had been shot down by his 
side in Kentucky ; a dearly loved child 
had just been buried in a foreign land ; 
penniless and an exile himself, he had 
neither Iiotue, property, a country, nor a 
cause. All that were left to him Avas his 
lionor and his soars. 

Before Shelby arrived in Paris, Col. 
Depreiiil had received an order from 
Marshal Bazaiue intended entirely for 
the Americans. It was very concise and 



AM iJKWRlTTKiN LEAF OF THE WAR 



55 



very much to tlie point. It commenced 
bj^ cleclariDg that Shelby's advance was 
hut the commencement of an irruption 
of Americans— Yankees, Bazaiue called 
them— who intended to overrun Mexico, 
and to make war alike upon the French 
and upon Maximilian. Their march to 
Sonora, therefore, was to be arrested, 
and if tliey refused to return to their 
own country, they were to be ordered to 
report to bim in the Citv of Mexico. No 
exceptions were to be permitted, and in 
any event, Sonora was to be held as for- 
bidden territory. 

Used to so many disappointments, and 
so constantly misunderstood and misin- 
terpreted, Shelby felt the last blow less, 
perliaps, than some heavier ones among 
the first of a long series. He called up- 
on Colonel Depreuil, however, for an 
official confirmation. 

This interview, like the night attack, 
was a stormy one. The Frenchman was 
drinking and abusive. Uninvited to a 
seat, Shelby took the nearest one at 
hand. Upon his entrance into the offi- 
cer's reception room, he had removed 
his hat. This was an act of politeness 
as natural as it was mechanical. After- 
ward it came near unto bloodshed. 

" I have called. Colonel," Shelby be- 
gan, "'for permission to continue my 
march to Sonora." 

" Such permission is impossible. You 
will turn aside to Mexico." 

" May I ask the reason of this sudden 
resolution ? General Jeanningros had no 
information to this effect when I left 
him the other day in Monterey." 

At the mention of Jeanningros' name, 
Depreuil became furious in a moment. 
It may have been that the subordinate 
was wanting in respect for his superior, 
or it may have been that he imagined, 
in his drunken way, that Shelby sought 
to threaten him with higher authority. 
At any rate he roared out : 

'■ What do I care for your information. 
Let the devil fly away with you and 
your information. It is the same old 
game you Americans are forever trying 
to play — robbing to-day, and killing to- 
morrow — and plundering, plundering, 



plundering all the time. Yon shall not 
go to Sonora, and you shall not stay 
here ; but whatever you do you shall 
obey." 

Shelby's face darkened. He arose as 
he spoke, put his hat on, and walked 
some paces toward the speaker. His 
voice was so cold and harsli when he 
answered him, that it sounded strange 
and unnatuial : 

"I am mistaken it seems. I imagined 
that when an American soldier called 
upon a French soldier, he was at least 
visiting a gentleman. One can not al- 
ways keep his hands clean, and I wash 
mine of you because you are a slanderer 
and a coward." 

Depreuil laid his hand upon hissw^ord; 
Slielby unbuttoned the flap of his re- 
volver scabbard. A rencontre was im- 
minent. Those of Shelby's men who 
were with him massed themselves in 
one corner, silent and threatening. A 
guard of soldiers in an adjoining room 
fell into line. The hush of expectancy 
that came over all was ominous. A 
spark would have exploded a magazine. 
Nothing could have surpassed the 
scornful, insulting gesture of Depreuil 
as, pointing to Shelby's hat, he ordered 
fiercely : 
"Remove that." 

''Only to beauty and to God," was the 
stern, calm reply ; "to a coward, never." 
It seemed for a moment afterwards 
that Depreuil would strike him. He 
looked first at his own guard, then 
grasped the hilt of his sword, and finally 
with a tierce oath, he broke out : 

"Retire— retire instantly — lest I out- 
rage all hospitality and dishonor you in 
my own house. You shall pay for this — 
you shall apologize for this." 

Depreuil was no coward. Perha!)s 
there was no braver and more impulsive 
man in the whole French army. The 
sequel proved this. 

Shelby went calmly from his presence. 
He talked about various things, but 
never about the difficulty until he found 
Governor Reynolds, 



56 



SiitLlJY^s EXiPKfaiTioN 'r5 Mkkico 



"Come apart witli me a I'ew moments, 
Governor," he said. 

Eeynolds was alone with him for an 
hour. When he came out he went 
straight to the quarters of Col. Depreuil. 
It did not take long thereafter to ar- 
range the terms of a meeting. 
Governor Reynolds was both 
a diplomatist and a soldier, and so at 
daylight the next morning they were to 
tight with pistols at ten paces. In this 
the Frenchman was chivalrous, notwith- 
standing his overbearing and insulting 
conduct at the interview. Shelby's 
right hand and arm had been disabled 
by a severe wound, and this Depreuil 
had noticed. Indeed, while he was an 
expert with the sword, Shelby's wrist 
was so stiff that to handle a sword at 
all would have been impossible. De- 
preuil, therafore, chose the pistol, agreed 
to the distance, talked some brief mo- 
ments pleasantly with Gov. Reynolds, 
and went to bed. Shelby, on his part, 
had even fewer preparations to make 
than Depreuil. Face to face with death 
for four long years, he had seen him in 
so many shapes, and in so many places 
that this last aspect was one of his least 
nncertain and terrifying. 

The due!, however, never occurred. 
That night, about ten o'clock, a tremen- 
dous clattering of sabres and galloping 
of horses were heard, and some who 
went out to ascertain the cause, return- 
ed with the information that Gen. Jean- 
ningros, on an inspecting tour of the en- 
tire northern line of outposts, had ar- 
rived in Parras with four squadrons of 
the Chasseurs d'Afrique. It was not 
long before all the details of the inter- 
view between Desreuil and Shelby were 
related to him. His quick French in- 
stinct divined in a mohient that other 
alternative waiting for the daylight, and 
in an insaut Depreuil was iu arrest, the 
violation of which would have cost him 
his life. Nor did it end with arrest sim- 
ply. After fully investig-atiug the cir- 
cumstances connected with the whole 
iftair, Jeanuingros required Depreuil to 
make a free and frank apology, which 
he did most cordially and sincerely, re- 



gretting as much as a sober man could 
the disagreeable and overbearing 
things did when he was drunk. 

How strange a thing is destiny. About 
one year after this Parras difficulty, De- 
preuil was keeping isolated guard above 
Queretero, threatened by heavj^ bodies 
of advancing Juaristas, and in imminent 
peril of destruction. Shelby, no longer 
a soldier now but a trader, knew his per- 
il and knew the value of afriendly warn- 
ing given while it vv^as yet time. Taking 
all risks, and putting to the hazard not 
only his own life, but the lives of forty 
others, Shelby rode one hundred and 
sixty-two miles in twenty- six hours, sa- 
ved Depreuil, rescuad his detachuient, 
and received in a general order from 
Bazaine the thanks of the French army. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Both by education and temperament 
there were but few men better fitted to 
accept the inevitable gracefully than 
Gen. Shelby. It needed not Depreuil's 
testimony, nor the immediate confirma- 
tion thereof by Jeanuingros, to convince 
him that Bazaine's order was impera- 
tive. True enough, he might have 
marched forth from Parras tree to 
choose whatsoever route he i^leased, but 
to become en raj^port with the Govern- 
ment, it was necessary to obey Bazaine. 
So when the good-byes were said, and 
the column well in motion, it was not 
towards the Pacific that the foremost 
horsemen rode along. 

As the expedition won well its way 
into Mexico, many places old in local 
song and story, arose, as it were, from 
the past, and stood out, clear-cut and 
ciimsou, against the background of 
a history filled to the brim with rapine, 
and lust, and slaughter. No otlier land 
under the sun had an awakening so 
storm begirt, a christening so bloody and 
remorseless. First the Spaniards under 
Cortez — swarr, fierce, long of broad- 
sword and limb; and next the Revolu- 
tion, wherein no man died peacefully or 
under the shade of a roof. There was 
Hidalgo, the ferocious Priest— shot. 



AN UXWRiriKN LEAK OI- THE WAR. 



Moielos, with these woiils in his iiiouth 
— sliot. "Lord, if I liave dgne well, 
Thou knowest it; if ill, to Thy infinite 
nieicy I commend uiy soul." Leonaido 
Bravo, scorning to fly — shot. Nicholas 
Bravo, his son, who had offered a thou- 
sand captives for his fathtr's life — shot. 
Matanioi-as — shot. Mina — shot. Gruer- 
lera — shot. Then enme the Republic — 
bloodier, bitterer, crueller. Victoria, its 
hrst President — shot. Mexia— shot. Pe- 
draza — shot. Santnnrnet — shot by Gen- 
eral Auipndin, who cut off" his 
liead, boiled it in oil, and stuck it up on 
u pole to blacken in the sun. Herrera — 
shot. Paredts— shot. All of them shot, 
these Mexican Presidents, except Santa 
Anna, who lost a leg by the French and 
a country' by the Americans. Among 
his game-cocks and his mistresses to- 
day in Havana, he will see never again, 
perhaps, the white brow of Orizava fi'om 
the southern sea, and rest never again 
i\nder the orange and the banana trees 
about Cordova. 

It was a laud old in the world's histo- 
ry that these men rode into, and a land 
stained m the. woi Id's crimes — aland 
tilled f idl of the sun and the tiopics. 
What w onder, then, that a deed was 
done on the tifth's day marching that 
hail about it the splendid dash and bra- 
vado of mediaeval chivalry. 

Keeping outermost guard one balmy 
evening far beyond the silent camp of 
the dreaming soldiers, James Wood and 
Yandell Blackwell did vigilant duty in 
front of the reserve. The tire had 
gone out when the coolcing 
M as done, and the earth .smelt sweet 
with grasses, and the dew on the grasses. 
Alow pulse of song broke on the beard- 
ed faces of the cacti, and sobbed in 
fading cadences as the waves that come 
in from the salt sea, seeking the south 
wind. This was tlie vesper strain of 
the katydids, sad, solacing, rhythmical. 

Before the wary ey^es of the sentinels 
a ligure rose up, waving his blanket as a 
truce-flag. Encoiu-aged, he came into 
the lines, not fully assured of his bear- 
ings—frightened a little, and prone to 



be communicative by way of iiropitia- 
tion. 

Had the .\mericans heard of Encar- 
nacion ? 

No, they had not heard of Encama- 
cion. What was Eucaruacion °! 

The Mexican, born robber and devout 
Catholic, crossed hinist;]f. Nottoha\e 
heard of Encarnacion was next in in- 
famy to have slaughtered a priest. Hor- 
ror made him garrulous. Fear, if it 
does not paraly/e, has been known to 
uuike the dumb speak. 

Encarnacion was a hacienda, and a 
hacienda, literally translated, is a plan- 
tation with royal stables, and acre.s of 
corral, and abounding water, and long 
rows of male and female slave cabins, 
and a Don of an owner, who has music, 
and singing-maidens, and pillars of sd- 
ver dollars, and a passionate, brief life, 
wherein wine and women rise upon it at 
last and cut it short. Even if no ill- 
luck intervenes, the pace to the devil is 
a terrible one, and superb riders though 
they are, the best seat in the saddle 
sways heavily at last, and the truest 
hand on the rein relaxes ere manhood 
reaches its noon and the shadows of the 
west. 

Luis Eurico Eodriguez owned Encar- 
ciou, a Spaniard born, and a patron saint 
of all the robbers who lived in the 
neighboring mountains, and of all the 
senoritas who plaii ed their hair by the 
banks of his arroyos and hid but charily 
their dusky bodies in the limpid 
waves. The hands of the French had 
been laid upon him lightly. For forage 
and foray Dupin had never penetrated 
the mountain line Avhich shut in his 
guarded dominions from the world 
beyond. ^Vlipn stran<:er8 camehe gave 
them greeting ; when soldiers came, he 
gave them of his flocks and herds, his 
wines and treasures. 

There Avas one pearl, however, a pearl 
of great price, whopi no stranger eyes 
had ever seen, whom no stranger 
tongue had ever spoken a fair good 
morning. The slaves called it a spiiii , 
the confessor a sorceress, the lazy gos- 
sips a Gringo witch, the man who knew 



^8 



SIIKLBY's expedition to MEXICO ; 



best of all called it wife, and yet no 
sprinkling of water or blessing of 
churcli bad made the name a holy 
one. 

Rodriguez owned Encarnacion andEn- 
carnacion owned a skeleton. This much 
James Wood and Yandell Blackwell 
knew when the half goat-herder and 
robber had told but half his story. 
When he had finished his other half, 
this much remained of it : 

Years before in Sonora a California 
hunter of gold had found his way to 
some streams where a beautiful Indian 
woman lived with her tribe. They were 
married, and a daughter was bom to 
them, ha\ing her father's Saxon hair, 
and her mother's eyes of tropical 
dusk. From youth to womanhood 
this daughter had been educated in San 
Francisco. When she returned she was 
an American, having nothing of her In- 
dian ancestry but its color. Even her 
mother's language was unknown to her. 
One day in Guaymas, IJodnguez looked 
upon her as a vision. He was a S])an- 
iard and a millionaire, and he believed 
all things possible. The wooing was 
long, but the web, like the web of Pen- 
elope, was never woven. He failed in 
his eloquence, in his money, in his pas- 
sionate entreaties, in his stratagems, m 
his lyings in wait — in everything 
that savored of pleading or purchase. 
Some men come often to their last dol- 
lar — never to the end of their audacity. 
If fate shoubl choose to back a lover 
against rhe world, fate would give 
long odds on a Spaniard. 

At last, when everything else had 
been tried, Rodriguez determined upon 
abduction. This was a common Mexican 
cnstom, dangerous only in its failure. 
No matter what the risk, no matter how 
monstrous the circumstances, no matter 
how many corpses lay in the pathway 
leading up from plotting to fulfillment, 
so only in the end the lusts of the man 
triumphed over tlie virtue of tiie 
woman. Gathering together hastily a 
band of hiavos whose des^otion was in 
exact proportion to the dollars paid, 
Rodriguez seized upon the maiden, re- 



tiu'ning late one night from the Opera, 
and bore her away with all speed to- 
wards Encarnacion. The Californian 
born of a tiger race that invariably dies 
hard, mounted such few men as loved 
him and followed on furiously in pur- 
suit. Bereft of his young, he had but 
one thing to do — kill. 

Fixed as fate and as relentless, the 
race went on. Turning once tairly at 
bay, pursued and pursuers met in a 
death-grapple. The Californian died in 
the tliiciv of tlie tight, leaving st'u-n and 
stark traces behind of his terrible 
prowess. What cared Rodriguez, how- 
ever, for a bravo more or less? The 
woman was safe, and on his own gar- 
ments nowhere did the strife leave 
aught of crimson or dust. Once well in 
her chamber — a mistress, perhaps — a 
prisoner, certainly, she beat her wings 
in vain against the strong bars of her 
palace, for all that gold could give or 
passion suggest had been poured out at 
the feet of Inez W^alker. Servants came 
and went at her bidding. The priest 
blessed and beamed upon her. The cap- 
tor Avas fierce by turns and in the dust 
at her shrine by turns ; but amid it all 
the face of a ijiurdered father rose up in 
her memory, and prayers for vengeance 
upon her father's murderer broke ever 
from her unrelenting lips. At times 
fearful cries came out fi'om the woman's 
chamber. The domestics heard them 
and crossed themselves. Once in a 
terrible storm she tied from her thral- 
dom and wandered frantically about un- 
til she sank do vn insensible. She was 
found alone with her beauty and her 
agony. Rodriguez lifted her in his aims 
and bore h(>r back to her chamber. A 
fever followed, scorching her wan face 
until it was pitiful, and shredding away 
her Saxon hair until all its gloss was 
gone and all its silken rippling stranded. 
She lived Oil, however, and under the 
light of a Southern sky, and by the fitful 
embers of a soldier's bivouac, a robber 
goat-herd was telling the story of an 
American's daughter to an American's 
son. 

Was it far to Encarnacion. 



AN UNWKITTEN I.KAF OF 'J'llK WAR. 



:>V 



Jim Wood asked the question in his 
broken Spanish w ay, h)oking out to tlie 
front, musiiiii-. 

"liy to-morrow uiglit, Scuoi', you will 
be there." 

'•Have you told tiie straight truth, 
Mexican?" 
"As the Virjiin is true, Seuor." 
"So be it. Yon will sleep this night 
at the outjiost. To-morrow we shall 
see." 

Tlie Mexican smoked a cigarrito and 
\\ ent to bed. Whether iie slept or not, 
lie made no sign. Full coutidence very 
rarely lays hold of an Indian's heart. 

Repleuishiug the fire, Wood and 
Blackwell sat an hour together in si- 
lence. Beyond the sts eeping, untiring 
glances of the eyes, the men were as 
statues. Finally BlackAvell spoke to 
Wood: 
'T)f vihat are you thinking?" 
"Encarnacion. And you?" 
"Inez Walker. It is the same." 
The Mexican turned in his blanket, 
muttering. Wood's revolver covered 
him : 

"Lie still," he said, "and muffle up 
your ears. You may not understand 
English, but you understand this," and 
he waved the pistol menacingly before 
his eyes. "One never does know wlien 
these yellow snakes are asleep." 

"No matter," said Blackwell, senten- 
tious(y; "they never sleep." 

It was daylight again, and although 
the two men had not unfolded their blan- 
kets, they were as fresh as the dew on 
the grasses— fresh enough to have plan- 
ned an enterprise as daring and as des- 
perate as anything ever drcaiied of in 
romance or set forth in fable. 

The to-mo]iow night of the. Mexican 
had come, and tliere lay- En<'arn<.cion in 
plain view under the starliuht. R(>d- 
riguez had kept aloof from the encamp- 
ment. Through the last hours of the 
afternoon -wide hatted raucheros 
had ridden up to the corral in 
unusual numbers, had dismoun- 
ted and had entered in. Shelby, who 
took note of everything, took note also 
of this. 



"They do not come out," he said 
"There are some signs of preparation 
about,aml some fears manifested against 
a night attack. By whom? Save our 
grass and goats I know of no reason why 
foraging sliould be heavier now than 
formerly." 

Twice Jim AVood had been ou the 
point of telling him the whole story,aiid 
twice his heart had failed him. Shelby 
was getting sterner, of late, and thereijis 
were becoming to be drawn tighter and 
tigliter. Perhax)s it was necessary. Cer- 
tainly since the last furious attack by 
the guerrillas over beyond Parras, tliose 
Avho had looked upon discipline as an 
ill-favored mistress, had ended by em- 
biaeing her. 

As the picquets were being told off for 
duty, Wood came close to Blackwell 
and whispered : 

"The men will be ready by twelve. 
They are volunteers and splendid fel- 
lows, How many of them will be shot?" 

"Quien sabef Those who take the 
sword shall perish by the sword." 

"Bah! When you take a text take one 
without a woman in it." 

"I shall not preach to-night. Shelby 
will do that to-morrow to all who come 
forth scat hi ess," 

With all his gold, and his leagues of 
cattle and laud, Rodriguez had only for 
eagle's nest an adobe eyrie. Hither his 
dove had been carried. On the right of 
this long rows of cabins ran the quar- 
ters of his peons. Near to the great 
gate were acres of corral. Within this 
saddled steeds were in stall, lazily feed- 
ing. A Mexican loves his horse, but 
that is no reason why he does not starve 
him. This night, however, Rodiignez 
was bountiful. For figlit and flight 
both men and animals must not go hun- 
gry. On the top of the main building a 
kind of tower lifted itself up. It was 
roomy and spacious, ami flanked by 
steps that clung to it tenaciously. In ' 
the tower a light shone, while all below 
and about it was hushed and impenetra- 
ble. Higli adol>e walls encircled the 
mansion, the cabins, the corral, the aca- 
cia trees, the fountain that splashed 



6o 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



plaintively, and the massive portal 
which had mystery written all over its 
rugged outlines. 

It may have been twelve o'clock. The 
nearest picquet was beyond Encarna- 
icon, and the camp guards were only for 
sentinel duty. Free to come and go, the 
men had no watchword lor the night. 
None was needed. 

Suddenly, and if one had looked up 
from his blankets, he might have seen a 
long, dark line standing out against tlie 
sky. This line did not move. 

Tt may have been twelve o'clock. 
There was no moon, yet the stars gave 
light enough for the men so see each 
other's faces and to recognize one an- 
other. It was a quarter of a mile from 
the camp to the hacienda, and about the 
same distance to the picquet posts from 
where tlie soldiers had formed. In the 
ranks one might have seen such cam- 
paigners — stern, and rugged, and scant 
f)f speech m danger — as McDougal I, Bos- 
well, Armistead, Winship, Ras Woods 
Macey, Vines, Kirtley, Blackwell, Tom 
Endd, Crockett, Collins, Jack Williams, 
Owens,TiaTil)erlake,Darnall,.Tohnsou,and 
the two Be rrys, Richard and Isaac. Jim 
Wood stood forward by right as leader. 
All knew he would carry them far 
enough; some may have thought, per- 
haps, that he would carry them too far. 

The line, hushed now and ominous, 
still stood as a wall. From front to rear 
Wood walked along its Avhole length, 
speaking some low and cheering words. 

"Boys," he commenced, "none of us 
know what is waiting inside the corral. 
Mexicans tight well in the dark, it is 
said, and see better than wolves, but we 
must have that American woman safe 
out of their hands, or we rrmst burn the 
buildings. If the liazard is too great for 
any of you, step out of the ranks. What 
Ave are about to do must needs be done 
quickly. Shelby sleeps little of late, 
and may be, even at this very moment, 
searching through the camp for some of 
us. Let hira find even so much as one, 
blaidtet empty, and from the heroes of a 
night attack we shall become its crim- 
innls," 



Sweeny, a one-armed soldier who had 
served under Walker m Nicaragua, and 
who was in the front always in hours of 
enterprize or peril, replied to Wood : 

" Since time is valuable, lead on." 

The line put itself in motion. Two 
men sent forAvard to try the great gate, 
returned rapidly. Wood met them. 

"Weirf he said. 

" It is dark all about there, and the 
gate itself is as strong as a mountain." 

" We shall batter it down. 

A beam Avas brought — a huge piece of 
timber Avrenched from the upright fas- 
tenings of a large irrigating basin. 
Twenty men manned this and adA-auced 
upon the gate. In an instant thereafter 
there were tremendous and resoiinding 
blows, shouts, cries, oaths and muvsket 
shots. Before this gigantic battering- 
ram adobe Avails and iron fastenings 
gave way. The bars of the barrier Avere 
l)roken as reeds, the locks were crushed, 
the hinges were beaten in, and with a 
fiei'ce yell and rush the Americans 
swarmed to the attack of the main build- 
ing. The light in the toAA'er guided 
them. A le^iion ot deA'ils seemed to 
have broken loose. The stabled steeds 
of the Mexicans reared and plunged in 
tlie infernal din of the fight, and dashed 
hither and thither, masteiless and rider- 
less. 

The cani]> wlune Shelby rested was 
alarmed iustantlj'. Ihe slu'ill notes of 
t»]e bugle were heard over all the tu- 
mult, and Avith them the encouraging 
voice of Wood. 

"Make haste ! make haste, men, fv)r in 
tAventy minutes we Avill be between tAvo 
fires !" 

Crouching in the stables, and pouring 
forth a murderous fire from their am - 
bush in the darkness, some tAventy 
rancheros made sudden and desperate 
battle. Leading a dozen men against 
them, Macy and Ike Beriy charged 
through the gloom and upon the un - 
knowii, guided only by the lurid and fit- 
ful flashes of the raiiskets. When the 
work was o\'er the corral no longer a om- 
ited its flame. Silence reigned there — 
that feariul and ominous silence i\t 



AN UN'WUITTEN LEAK OF THE WAU. 



only for tlie dead wlio died sudderil.y. 

The camp, no loujjer iu sleep, had be- 
pxjine menaciiifr. Short words of coni- 
inaud came ovit of it, and the tread of 
men foimiu^ rapidly for battle. Some 
skirmisliers, even in the very tirst mo- 
ments of the combat, had been thrown 
forward quite to the Imdenda. These 
were almost nude, and stood out tinder 
the starlight as white spectres, threat - 
<'ning yet undefined. They had guns 
at least, and pistols, and iu so much 
they were mortal. These spectres had 
reason, too. Close upon the fragments 
of the great gate, and h)ol\ing in uyjon 
the waves of the tight as they I'ose ;ind 
fell, they yet did not tire. They be- 
lieved, at least, that simie of their kin- 
dred and comrades were there. 

For a brief t(^n minutes more (he c<mi- 
bat raged evenly. Cheered by the voice 
of Tlodrignez, and stimulated by his ex- 
ample, his retainers climg l)itterly to the 
figh t. The doors were as redoubts. The 
windows were as miniature casemates. 
Once on the steps of the toAverRodriquez 
sli(>\ved himself for a second. A dozen 
of the best shots in the attacking party 
fired at him. No answer save a curse of 
defiance so harsli and savage that it 
sonnded uunatural even in the roar of 
the furious hurrican(>. 

There was a lull. Every Mexican 
eombattaut outside the main building 
had been killed or wounded. Against 
the niassJAe walls of the adobes the 
rifle bullets made no IieadAvay. It was 
murder longer to oppose flesh to ma- 
sonry. Tom Rudd was killed, young 
and dauntless; Crockett, the he]o of 
the Lampasas duel, was dead ; Rogers 
was dead ; the boy ProAiues was dead ; 
Matterhorn, a stark giant of a Genuan, 
shot four times, was breathing his last ; 
and the \\ounded were on all sides, 
sorab hard bit, and some Ideediug, yet 
fi,^b(ing on. 

"Once more to the learn,'' shouted 
Wood. 

Again the grtat batteiing-ram crashed 
against the great door leading into the 
main hall, and again there was a rend- 
ing away (tf iron^, and wood, and moi- 



tar. Through sidiutered timVx'r, and 
over crumbling and jagged masonry, the 
beseigers pinned. The builduig wafe" 
gained. Once well withinside, the stojni 
of revolver balls was terrible. Therci 
personal prowess told, and there the 
killing was quick and desperate. At 
the head of his hunted following, Rod- 
riguez fought like the Spaniard he was, 
stubbornly, and to the last. No lami)s 
lit the savage melee. While the Mexi- 
cans stood u]) to be shot at, they were 
shot where they stood. The niost of 
them died there. Some few l)roke away 
towards the last and escaped, for no 
pursuit was attempted, and no man 
cared how many fled nor how fast. It 
was the woman the Americans wanted. 
Gold and silver oruanienls were eveiy- 
where, and i)recious tapeslry work, and 
many rare and quaint and woven 
things, but the powder-blackened and 
blood-stained hands of the assailants 
touched not one of these. It was too 
dark to tell who killed Rodriguez. To 
the last his voice could be heard cheer- 
ing on his men, and calling down God's 
vengeance on the Giingos. Those who 
tired at him specially tired at his voice, 
for the smoke was stifling, and the sul- 
phurous fumes of the gunpowder jilmost 
unbearable. 

When the hacienda was won Shelby 
had arrived with the rest of the cot>i- 
mand. He had mistaken tlie causi- of 
the attack, and his mood was of that 
kind which but seldom came to him, 
but which, when H did conif>, had sev- 
eral times before made s<nrie of hismost 
hardened and unruly fcdiowers tremble 
and turn pale. He had caused the 
hadenda to be surrounded closely, and 
he had come alone to the doorway, a 
look of wrathful menace on his nsually 
placid face. 

"Who among you ha\e done this 
thing f he atjked, in tones that Avere 
calm yet full and A'^ibrating. 

No answer. The men put up their 
weapons. 

"Speak, some of a on. Let me not 
find cowards insleail of plnndejers, 
lest I finish the woik upon \oii all that 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



the Mexicans did so poorlj^ upon a few." 
Jim Wood came forward to the trout 
then. Covered with blood and powder- 
stams, lie seemed in sony plight to make 
much headway in defeuce of the night's 
doing-s, yet he told the tale as straight 
as the goatherd had told it to him, 
aud in such simple soldier fashion, 
taking all the sin upon 
his own head aud hands, tliat even the 
stern features of his commander re- 
laxed a Mttle, and he fell to musing. 
It may have been that the desperate ua- 
ture of the enterprise appealed more 
strongly to his own feelings than he was 
willing that his men should know, or it 
may have been that his set purpose 
softened a little when he saw so many 
of his bravest aud best soldiers come 
out from the darkness and staud in 
silence about their leader Wood, some 
of them sorely wounded, and all of them 
covered with the signs of the desperate 
fight, but certain it is that when be 
spoke again his voice was more relent- 
ing and assuring : 
"And where is the woman f 
Through all the teirible moments of 
the combat the light m the tower had 
burned as a beacon. Perhaps in those 
lew seconds when Rodriguez stood 
filoue upon the steps leading up to the 
doves'-nest, in a tempest of fire and 
smoke, the old love might have been 
busy at his heart, and the old yearning 
strong within him to make at last some 
peace with h r for whom he had so 
deeply sinned, and for Avhose sake he 
was soon to so dreadfully suffer. Death 
makes many a sad atonement, and 
though late in coming at times to the 
evil aud the good alike, it may be that 
when the records of the heart are writ 
beyond the wondeifui river, much that 
was dark on earth will be bright in 
eternity, and much that was cruel and 
fierce in finite judgioeut will be made 
fair aud beautiful when it is know'u 
how love gathered up the threads of des- 
tiny, aud how all the warp that w^as 
blood-stained, aud all the woof that had 
bitterness and tears upon it, coidd be 
traced to a woman's hand, 



Grief -stricken, i)rematurely old, yet 
beantifid even amid the loneliuess of 
her situation, Inez Walker came into 
the presence of Shelby, a queen. Some 
strands of gray were in her glossy, gold- 
en hair. The liquid light of her large 
dark eyes had long ago been (luenched 
iu tears. The form that had once been 
so full ami perfect, was now bent aud 
fragile ; but there was such a look of 
mournf id tenderness in her eager, ques- 
tioning face that the men drew back 
from her presence instinctively and left 
her alone with their General, lie re- 
ceived her coiiiniands as if she were be- 
stowing a favur utio'.i liiiii, lisiiiiing as a 
brother might until all her wishes were 
made known. These he promised to 
carry out to the letter, and how well he 
did so, this narrative will further tell. 
For the rest of that uight she was left 
alone with her dead. Recovered some- 
what from the terrors of the wild attack, 
her women came back to her, weeping 
over the slain and praying piteously for 
their souls as well. 

When the dead had been buried, when 
the wounded had been cared for, and 
when Wood had received a warning 
w^hich he will remember to his dying 
day, the column started once more on 
its march to the souih. AA'ith the guard 
of honor regularly detailed to protect 
the families of those who were travel- 
ing with the expedition, there was an- 
other carriage new to the men. None 
sought to know its occupiint. The 
night's work had left upon all a sorrow 
that was never euiirely obliterated — a 
memory that even now, through the 
lapse of long years, comes back to all 
who witne'ssed it as a memory that 
brings with it more of real regret than 
gladness. 



C;riAPTER XTIl. 
The great guns were roaring furiously 
at Matehuala when the expedition came 
within hearing distance of its outposts. 
Xi;iht had fallen over the city, aud its 
twenty-thousand inhabitants, 1 >ef ore 
the advanced guard. of the coluum had 



Ax UNWRITTEN LEAF OK TIIK WAR 



h 



luilted for furhlier orders. The lui- 
kiiowii Wiis ahead. All dfsy, amid the 
mouutains, there had come upon the 
breeze the deep, prok)uged rumltling of 
artillery tiring ; ;m<l as the colnmi) iip- 
])roaelied nearer and nearer to the cit.y, 
there were min'.vled with the hoarse 
voices^ of the eauuon the nearer and 
deadlier ratlle of incessant musketry. 

Shelby rode np to the head of his ad- 
vance and enquired the cause of the 
heavy fliino-. No one could tell him. 

"Tlien we will camp," he said. "Af- 
terwaids a few scout.-5 shall determine 
definitely." 

The number of scouts detailed for 
service was not iars^e — probably sixty 
all told. These were divided into four 
detachments, each detachment being- 
sent out in a direction ditferent 
from the others. James Kirtly led 
one, Dick Collins another, Jo. 
Macey the third, and Dorsey the 
fourth. They were to bring word back 
of the meaning of all tliat infeiual noise 
and din that had been raging about 
^Matehuala the whole day through. And 
thej'didit. 

Kirtly took the main road running 
down squarely into the city. A piquet 
l)ost barred his further progress. Mak- 
ing a circuit cautiously, he gained the 
rear of this, and came upon a line oF 
soldiers in bivouac. In the shadow 
himself, the light of the campfires re- 
vealed to him the great forms and 
the swarthy countenances of a battalion 
of guerrillas. Further beyond there 
were other fires at which other battal- 
ions were cooking and resting. 

Collins Avas less fortunate in tliis that 
he had to light a little. Warned against 
using weapons except in self defense, 
he had drawn up his small detachment 
under the cover of a clump of mesquite 
bushes, watching the road along which 
men were riding to a'ul fro. His am- 
bush w^as discovered, and a comi)auy of 
cavalry came galloping down to uncov- 
er his position. Halted twice they still 
continued to advance. There Avas no 
help for it save a point blank volley, 
and this was given with a will and in 



the darkness. Some saddles were 
emptied, and one riderless liorse dashed 
into the midst of the Americans. This 
was secured and caiTied into camp. 

Macey made a wide detour u])(;n the 
left of the road, and across some culti- 
vated fields in which were a few huts 
filled with peons. Five of these peons 
were captured and brought back to Shel- 
by. Questioned closely, they levealed 
the whole situation. jMatehuala v.as 
held by a French garrison numbering 
five hundred of the 82d infantry 
of the line— a weak detach 
ment enough for such an expos- 
ed outpost. These five hundred 
Frenchmen were commanded by Major 
Henry Pierron, an officer of extreme 
youth and dauntless enterprise. 

Shelby called a council of his officers 
at once. The peons had further told 
him that the besieging force was com- 
posed of about two thousand guerrillas, 
under Col. Escobeda, brother of that 
other one who laughed, and was glad 
exceedinglj', when Maximilian fell, 
butchered and betra^^ed, at Queretero. 
At daylight the garrison was to be at- 
tacked again, and so what was to be 
done had great need to be done quickly. 

The officers came readily, and Shelby 
addressed them. 

'•\Ye have marched far, we have but 
scant money, our horses are foot-soi'e 
and much in need of shoes, and Matehu 
ala is across the only road for scores of 
miles in any direction that leads to Mex- 
ico. Shall we turn back and take an- 
other?" 

"No! no!" in a kind of angry murmur 
i'rom the men. 

"But there are two thousand Mexican 
soldiers, or robbers, Avho are lu^xt ot 
kin, across this road, and we may ha\'e 
to fight a little. Are .vou tired of fight- 
ing T' 

"Lead us on and see," was the cry, 
and this time his office rs had begun to 
catch his meaning. They xmderstood 
now that be was tempting them. Al- 
ready determined in his own mind to 
attack the Mexicans at daylight, he sim- 
ply wished to see h(jw uiucli of his own 



64 



Shelby's kxpedition to mmxico ; 



desire was in tlic bosoms of liis subor- 
dinates. 

"One oMier thing," said Shelby, "be- 
fore we separate. From among you I 
wanf a couple of volunteers — two men 
who will take theii- lives in tlieir hands 
and find an entrance into Matehuala. 
I must communicate with Pierrou be- 
fore daylight. It is necessary that 
lie should know how near there is suc- 
cor to him. and how furiously we mean 
to charge them in the morning. Who 
will go V 

All who were present volunteered, 
stepping one pace nearer to their com- 
mander in a body. He chose but two- 
James Cundiff and Elias Ilodge — two 
men tit for any mission no matter how 
forlorn or desperate. 

By this time they liad learned enough 
of Spanish to buy meat and biead — not 
enough to pass undetected an (mtlying 
guerrilla with an eye like a lynx and a 
ear keener than a cayote's. They started, 
however, just the same. Shelbj' would 
wiite nothing. 

"A document might hang you," he 
said, "and, besides, Pierjon caniu^t, in 
all i)robability, read my English. Go, 
and may God protect ycm." 

These two dauntless men then shook 
hands with their commander, and with 
the few comrades nearest. After that 
they disappeared in the unknown. It 
was a cloudy night, and some wind 
l>lew. In this they wei-e gieatly favored. 
The darkness hid the clear outlines of 
their forms, and the wind blended the 
tread of tlieir footsteps with the rustling 
of tlie leaves and the grasses. Two re- 
Aolvers and a Sharpens carbine each 
made up the ectuiimient. Completely 
ignorant of the entire topography of tlje 
country, they yet had a kind of vague 
idea of the direction in which Matehuala 
lay. They knew that the main load 
was haid beset by guerrillas, and that 
upon the rigid a broken aiid pre«'ipitous 
ciiain of mountains encircled the city 
and made hi'adwi y in that direction 
well nigh impossible. They chose the 
left, therefore, as the least of three 
evils. 



It WHS now altout midnight, and it 
was two long miles to Matehuala. Shel- 
by required tfiem to enter into the city; 
about their coming back lie was not so 
particular. Cundiff led, Hodge follow- 
ing in Indian fashion. At intervals 
both men would draw themselves up 
an<l listen, long and anxiously. At last 
af . er crossing a wide field, intersected 
by ditches and but recently plowed, 
tliey came to a road which had a mes- 
quite hedge on one side, and a fence, 
with a few straggling ])oles in it, on the 
other. Gliding stealthily down this 
road, the glimmering of a light in fiout 
warned them of immediate danger. In 
avoiding this they came upon another 
house; and in going still further to the 
left to avoid this also, they found them- 
selves in the midst of a kind of extend- 
ed village — one of those interminable 
suburbs close to yet disconnected from 
all Mexican cities. 

Wherever there was a tloida — that is 
to say, a place where the lieiy native 
drink of the country is sold— two or 
three saddle horses might have been 
seen. In whispers, the men conferred 
together. 

"They are here," said Hodge. 

"They seem to be everywhere," an- 
swered Cundiff. 

"What do you propose °?" 

"To glide quietly through. 1 have a 
strong belief that beyond this village 
we shall find Matehuala." 

They struck out boldly agaiu, ])assing 
near to a tienda in which there wei e 
music and dancing. When outside of 
the glare of the light which streamed 
from its open door, the sound of hoises' 
feet coming down the road they had 
just traveled called for instant conceal- 
ment. They crouched low behind a 
large maguey plant and waited. The 
horsemen came light onward, laugh- 
ing loud and boisterously. They «lid 
not halt in tlie village, but rode on by 
the ambush and so close that they could 
have touched the Americans Avith a 
sabre. 

"A scratch," said Hodgi, breathing 
more freely. 



AN I.TNWraTTKX I.KAK OF tHK WAR. 



65 



"Hush," said Cnmlilt', ci'oacliiu^;- stil! 
closer in the shadow of the maguey, 
"the worst is yet to come.'' 

And it was. From wlieie the Ameri- 
cai^s had liiddeu, to the tienda in whioh 
the Mexicans were carousing, it was 
probably tit'teeii paces. The sndden 
galloping of the horsemen through tlie 
vilUige had startled the revellers. If 
they were friends, they called out to 
each other, they would have tarried long- 
enough for a stirru]) cup ; if they are 
enemies we shall pursue. 

The Mexicans were a little drunk, yet 
not enough so to make them negligent. 
After mounting their horses, they spread 
out in skirmishing order, with an inter- 
val, probably, of five feet Ijetween each 
man.* Against the full glare that stream- 
ed out from the lighted doorway, the 
picturesque forms of five guerrillas out- 
lined themselves. The silver ornaments 
on their bridles shone, the music of the 
spurs penetrated to the ambush, and 
the wide somhreros told all too well the* 
calling of those mounted robbers vrho 
are wolves in pursuit and tigers in vic- 
tory. None have ever been known to 
spare. 

Hodge would talk, brave as he vv-as, 
and imminent as was his peril. Even 
in this exli^emity his soldierly tactics 
came uppermost, 

"There are five," he said, "and we are 

but two. We have fought w^orse odds." 

"Bo we have," answei^ed Cundiif, "and 

may do it Jigain before this night's work 

is over. Lie low and wait." 

The guerrillas came right onward. At 
a loss to understand fully the nature of 
the men who had just ridden tlirough 
the village, they wei-e manouvering now 
as if they expected to meet them in 
hostile array at any moment. There 
were tiftj- chances tn five that some one 
of the skirmishers would discover the 
ambush. 

Although terrible, the suspense was 
brief. Between the maguey plant and 
the road, tw^o of the guerrillas filled up 
the interval. This left the three others 
to the left and rear. They had their 
musquetoous in their hands, and were 

ttA 



searci:ing keenly every clump of grass 
or patch of underbrush. Those nearest 
the road had passed on, and those upon 
the left were just abreast of the ambush. 
The Americans did not breathe. Sud- 
denly, and with a fierce shout, the third 
skirmisher in the line yelled out: 

"What ho ! comrades, close u]) — close 
up— here are two skulking Frenchmen. 
jPe>- Dios, but we will have their heart's 
blood." 

As he shouted he levelled his musket 
until its muzzle almost touched the quiet 
face of Cundiff, the rest of the Mexicans 
rushing up furiously to the spot. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

If it be true, that when a woman hesi- 
tates she is lost, the adage applies with 
a ten -fold greater tlegree of precision to 
a Mexican guerrilla, who has come sud- 
denly' upon an American in ambush, and 
who,mistaking him for a French soldier, 
hesitates to fire until he has' called 
around him his comrades. A revolver 
to a Frenchman is an unknown weapon. 
Skill in its use is something he never 
acqitires. Rarely a favorite in his hands 
no matter how great the stress, nor hovr 
friglitfnl the danger, it is the muzzle- 
loadci that ever comes uppermost, fa- 
vored above all other Aveapons that 
might have been had for the asking. 

Cundiff, face to face with imminent 
death, meant to fight to the last. His 
orders were to go into Matehuala, and 
not to give up as a wolf that is taken in 
a trap. His revolver was in his hand, 
and the Mexican took one second too 
many to run his eye along the barrel of 
his musquetoon. With a motion as in- 
stantaneous as it was unexpected, Cun- 
difi:' fired fair at the Mexican's breast,the 
bullet speeding true and terrible to its 
mark. He fell forward over his horse's 
head with a ghastly cry, his four com- 
panions crowding around his prostrate 
body, fTightened, it may be. but bent on 
vengeance. As they grouped themselves 
together, Hodge and Cundifi shot into 
the crowd, wounding another guerrilla 



66 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



and oae of the horses, and then broke 
away from cover and ruslied on to- 
wards Matelmala. The road ran direct- 
ly througli a village. This village was 
long and scattering, and alive with sol- 
diers. A great shout was raised; ten 
thousand dogs seemed to be on the alert, 
more furious tlian the men, and keener 
of sight and scent. The flight became a 
hunt. The houses sent armed men in 
pursuit. The five guerrillas, reduced 
now to three, led the rush, but not des- 
jjerately. Made acquainted wltli the 
stern prowess of the Americans, they 
had no heart for a close grapple witliout 
heavy odds. At intervals CuDdiif and 
Hodge would halt and lire back with 
their carbines, and theu press forward 
again through the darkness. Two men 
were keeping two hundred at bay, and 
Cundiff spoke to Hodge : 

"This pace is fearful. How long can 
you keep it up V 

"Not long. There seems, however, to 
be a light ahead." 

And til ere was. A large fire, distant 
some five hundred yards, came suddenly 
in sight. The rapid firing coming from 
both pursuers and pursued, had created 
commotion in front. There were the 
rallying notes of a bugle, and the sud- 
den forming of a line of men immedi- 
ately in front of the camp-tire seen by 
the Americans. Was it a French out- 
post,'? Neither knew, but against this 
unforseen danger now outlined fully 
in the front, that in the rear Avas too 
near and too deadly to permit of prepa- 
ration. 

"We are surrounded," said Hodge. 

"Rather say we are in the breakers, 
and that in trying to avoid Scylla we 
shall be wrecked upon Charybdis," re- 
plied Cundiff, turning coolly to his com- 
rade, after firing deliberately upon the 
nearest of the puisuers, and halting- 
long enough to reload his carbine. "It 
all depends upon a single chance." 

"And what is that chance V 

"To escape the first close fusillade of 
the French." 

"But are they French — those fellows 
in front of us V 



"Can't you swear to that ? Did you 
not mark how accurately they fell into 
line, and how silent everything has been 
since? Keep your ears wide open, and 
when you hear a single voice call out, 
fall flat upon the ground. That single 
voice will be the leader's ordering a 
volley." 

It would seem that the Mexicans also 
had begun to realize the situation. A 
last desperate rush had been determined 
upon, and twenty of the swiftest and 
boldest pursuers charged furiously down 
at a run, firing as they came on. There 
was no shelter, and Cundiff and Hodge 
stood openly at bay, holding, each, his 
fire, until the oncoming mass was only 
twenty yards away. Then the revolver 
volleys were incessant. At a distance 
they sounded as if a company were en- 
gaged; to the guerrillas the two men 
had multiplied themselves to a dozen. 

The desperate stand made told well. 
The fierce charge expended itself. 
Those farthest in the front slackened 
their pace, halted, fell back, retreated a 
little, yet still kept up an incessant 
volley. 

"Come," said Cundiff, "and let's try 
the unknown. These fellows in the rear 
have had enough." 

Instead of advancing together now, 
one skirted the road on the left and the 
other on the right. The old skirmisli- 
ing drill was beginning to re-asseit it- 
self again — a sure sign that the danger 
in the rear had transferred itself to the 
front. Of a sudden a clear, resonant 
voice came from the direction of the 
fire. Cundiff and Hodge fell forward 
instantly upon their faces, a hurricane 
of balls swept over and beyond them, 
and for reply the loud, calm shout of 
Hodge was heard in parley : 

"Hold on, men, hold on. We are but 
two and we are friends. See, we come 
into your lines to make our words good. 
We are Americans and we have tidings 
fur Capt. Pierron." 

Four Frencli soldiers came out to meet 
them. Explanations w^cre mutually had, 
and it ;svas long past midnight when the 
commander of the garrison had finished 



AN UNWRITTEN L.EAF OF THE WAR. 



^1 



his conference with the daring scouts, 
and had been well assured of his timely 
and needed succor. 

Pierron offered them food and lodg- 
ing. 

"We must return," said Cundiif. 

The Frenchman opeiied his eyes wide 
with surprise. 

"Eeturn, the devil! You have not 
said your prayers yet for being per- 
mitted to get in." 

"No matter. He prnys best who tights 
the best, and Shelby gives no thanks 
for unlinished work. Am I right, 
Hoilge V 

"Now as always ; but surely Captain 
Pierron can send us by a nearer road." 

The Frenchman thus appealed to, gave 
the two men an escort ot forty cuiras- 
siers and sent them back to Shelby's 
camp by a road but slightly guarded, 
the Mexican picquets upon it tiling but 
once at long range and then scampering 
away. 

It was daylight, and the great guns 
were roaring again. The column got it- 
self in motion at once and waited. Shel- 
by's orders were repeated by each cap- 
tain to his company, and in words so 
plain that he who ran migiithave under- 
stood. The attack was to be made in 
column of fouis, the men firing right 
and lef-t from the two files as they dash- 
ed in among the Mexicans. It was the 
old way of doing deadly work, and not 
a man there was unfamiliar with the 
duty marked out for his hands to do. 

Largely outnumbered, the French 
were fighting as men tight who know 
that defeat means destruction. Many 
of them had been killed. Pierron was 
anxious, and through the rising mists of 
the morning, his eyes more than once, 
and with an eagerness not usually there, 
looked away to the front where he knew 
the needed succor lay. It came as it al- 
ways came, whether to fiiend or foe, in 
time. Not a throb of the laggard's pulse 
had Shelby ever felt, and upon this day 
of all days of his stormy career, he 
meant to do a soldier's sacred duty. 
From a walk the column passed into a 
trot, Shelby leading. There was no ad- 



vance guard ahead, and none was 
needed. 

"We know what is before us," was his 
answer to Langhorne, "and it is my 
pleasure this morning to receive the fire 
first of you all. Take your place with 
yocr company, the fifth from the front." 

"Gallop— march !" 

The men gathered up the reins and 
straightened themselves in their stir- 
rups. Some Mexicans were in the road 
before them and halted. The appari- 
tion to them came from the unknown. 
They might have been spectres, but 
they were armed, and armed spectres 
are terrible. The alarm of the night 
before had been attributed to the dar- 
ing of two adventurous Frenchmen. 
Not one oE the besieging host had 
dreamed that a thousand Americans 
were within two miles of Matehuala, re 
solved to fight for the besieged, and 
take the investing lines in rear and at the 
gallop. 

On one side of the road down which 
Shelby was advancing there ran a chain 
of broken and irregular hills, on the 
other, the long, straggling village in 
which Cundiff and Hodge had well nigh 
sacrificed themselves. These the day- 
light revealed perfectly. Between the 
hills and the village was a plain, and in 
this plain the Mexican forces were 
drawn up, three lines deep, having as a 
point cVapjjiii a heavy six-gun battery. 

Understanding at last that while the 
column coming down from the rear was 
not Frenchmen, it was not friendly, the 
Mexicans made some dispositions to re- 
sist it. Too late! Caught between two 
inexorable jaAvs, they were crushed be- 
fore they were aware of the peril. Shel- 
by's charge was like a thunder-cloud. 
Nothing could live before the storm of 
its revolver bullets. Lurid, canopied in 
smoke-wreaths, pitiless, keeping right 
onward, silent in all save the roar of the 
ievolveis,there was first a line that fired 
upon it, and then a great upheaving and 
rending asunder. When the smoke 
rolled away the battery had no living 
thing to lift a hand in its defense, and 
the fugitives were in hopeless and help- 



Shelby's expedition to mexico ; 



less flight towards the mountains on tlie 
right and towards the village upon the 
left. Pursuit Shelby made none, but 
God pity all whom the French cuiras- 
siers overtook, and who, cloven from 
somhrero to sword-helt, fell thick in all 
the streets of the village, and died hard 
among the dagger-trees and the preci- 
pices of the stony and unshelteriug 
mountains. 

Pierron came fortli with ])is entire 
garrison to thank and welcome his 
preservers. The freedom of the city was 
extended to Shelby, tlie stores of the 
post were at his disposal, money was 
offered and refused, and for three long 
and delightful days the men rested and 
feasted. To get shoes for his horses, 
Shelby had fought a battle, nob blood- 
less, however, to him, but a battle treas- 
ured to-day in the military archives of 
France— a battle which won for him the 
gratitude of the whole French army, 
and M'hich, in the end, turned from him 
the confidence of Maximilian and ren- 
dered abortive all his efforts to recruit 
for the Austrian a corps that would have 
kept him upon his throne. Verily, man 
proposes and God dispo'^es. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Pierron made Matehuala a Paradise. 
There were days of feasting, and- mirth, 
and minstrelsy ; and in the balm of fra- 
grant nights the men dallied with the 
women. So when the southward march 
was resumed, many a bronf^ed face was 
set in a look of sadness, and many a re- 
gretful heart pined long and tenderly 
for the dusky hair tliat would never be 
plaited again— for the tropical lips thai 
for them would never sin'g again the 
songs of the roses and the summertime. 

Adventures grew thick along the road 
as cactus plants. Villages multiplied, 
and as the ride went on, larger towns 
and larger populations were daily en- 
tered into. The French held all the 
country. Everywhere could be seen the 
pjcturesqe uniforms of the Zouaves, jthe 



soberer garments of the Voltigeurs, the 
gorgeous array of the Chasseurs, and the 
more sombre and forbidding aspect of 
the Foot Artillery. The French held all 
the country— that is to say, wherever a 
French garrison had stationed itself, or 
whei'ever a French expeditionary force, 
or scouting force, or reconnoitermg lorce 
had camped or was on the march, such 
force held all the country within the 
range of their cannon and their chasse- 
pots. Otherwise not. Guerrillas abound- 
ed in the mountains ; rol)bers fed and 
fattened by all the streams; spies 
swarmed upon the haciendas, and cruel 
and ruthless scoru-ges from the marches 
rode in under the full of the tropical 
moons, and slew for a whole night 
through, and on many a night at inter- 
vals thereafter, whoever of Mexican or 
Punic faith had carried truth or tidings 
of Liberal movements to the French. 

It was in Dolores, the home of Hidal- 
go— ]>riest, butclier, revolutionist— that 
those wonderful blankets are made 
which blend the colors of the rainbow 
with the strength of the north wind. 
Soft, warm, gorgeous, flexible, two strong 
horses cannot pull them assunder — two 
weeks of an east rain cannot find a pore 
to penetrate. Marvels of an art that has 
never yet been analyzed or transferred, 
Dolores, a century old, has yet an older 
secret than itself — the secret of their 
weaving. 

Shelby's discipline was now sensibly 
Increasing. As the men marched into 
the South, and as the soft airs blew for 
them, and the odorous blossoms opened 
for them, and the dusky beauties were 
gay and gracious for them, they began 
to chafe under the iron rule of the 
camp, and the inexorable logic of guard 
and picquet duty. Once a detachment 
of ten, told off' for the grand guards, re- 
fused to stir from the mess-fire about 
whicli an elegant sui)per was being pre- 
pared. 

And in such guise did the -word come 
to Shelby. 

"They refuse," he asked. 

"Peremptorily, General." 

"Ah ! And for what reason f 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



69 



"They say it is iiuueeessary," 

"And so, in additiou to nuik mutiny, 
they woiihl iiistify themselves? Call 
out the guard !" 

The guard i-amc, Jo. Macey a I its head 
—twenty deteimitied men, iit tor any 
Avork a soldier might do. ^^lielby rose 
up and went with it to whaie the ten 
mutineers were feasting and singing. 
They knew what was coming, and their 
leader — brave even to desperation— laid 
his hand upon his revolver. There was 
murder in his eyes— that wicked and 
want:)n murder which must have been 
in Sampson's heart when he laid hold of 
the pillar of the Temple and felt the 
throes of the crushing edifice as it 
swayed and toppled, and buried all iu a 
common ruii). 

Jo. Macey halted liis detachment with- 
in five feet of the mess fire. He had first 
whispered to Shelby : 

"When you want me, speak. I shall 
kill nine of the ten the first broadside." 

It can do no good to write the name 
of the leader of the mutineers. He 
sleeps to-day in the golden sandt; of a 
Souora stream — sleeps, forgiven by all 
who.se lives he might have given away 
— given away without cause or griev- 
ance. When he dared to disobey, either 
this man or the Expedition had to be 
sacrificed. Htippily, both were saved. 

Shelby walked into the midst of the 
mutineers, looking into the eyes of 'all. 
His voice was very deej) and \^ery 
grave. 

"Men, go back to your duty. 1 am 
among you all, an adventurer like your- 
selves, but 1 have been charged to carry 
you through to Mexico City in safety, 
and this I wdl do, so surely as the good 
God rules the universe. I don't seek to 
know the cause of this thing. I ask no 
reason for it, no excuse for it, no regrets 
nor apologies for it. I only want your 
soldierly promise to obey." 

No man spoke. The leader mistook 
the drift of things and tried to advance 
a^ittle. Shelby stopped liim instantly. 

"Not another word," he almost shout- 
ed ; "but if within fifteen seconds by 
the watch you are not in line for duty, 



you shall be shot like the meanest Mexi 
can dog in all the Empire. Cover these 
men, Macy, with your carbines." 

Twenty gaping muzzles crept straight 
the front, waiting. The seconds seem- 
ed as hours. In that supreme moment 
of unpitying danger the young muti- 
neer, if left to himself, would have 
dared the worst, dying as he luid lived ; 
but the otlieis could not look full into 
the face of the grim skeletou and take 
the venture for a cause so disgracef id. 
Tbey yielded to the inevitable, and 
went forth to their duty bearing their 
leader with them. Thereafter no more 
faithful and honorable soldiers could be 
found in the ranks of all the Expedition. 

The column had gone southward from 
Dolores a long day's journey. The 
whole earth smelt sweet with spring. 
In the air \\ as the noise of many wings 
— on {I'.e trees the purple and pink of 
many blossoms. Summer lay with inire 
breast upon all the fields— a queen 
whose rule had never known an hour of 
stoi'iu or overtlirow. It was a glorious 
land filled full of the sun and of the 
things that love the sun. 

Late one afternoon— tired, hot and 
dusty— Dick Collins and Ike Berry halt- 
ed by the wayside for a litrle rest and a 
little gossip. In violation of orders this 
thing had been done, and Mars is a jeal- 
ous and a vengeful god. They tarried 
long, smoking a bit and talking a Int, 
and finally fell asleeji, 

A sudden scout of gueuillas awoke 
the gentlemen, using upon Collins the 
back of a sabre, and uiion Berry, who 
was larger and sounder of slumber, tlie 
butt of a musquetoon. There were six 
of tliern — swart, soldierly fellows, who 
wore gilded spuis and Ijedeckcd soinhre- 
ros. 

" Franca isces, eh!" they muttered vuic 
to anotlier. 

Berry knew considerable Spanish — 
Collins not so much. To lie under tt>e 
imputation of being French was to lie 
within the shadow of sudden death. 
Berry tried to keeji away from tlutt. He 
answered: 

"No, no, Seuors, not Francakces, hut 
Americanos^ 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



The Mexicans looked at eacli other, 
and shrugged their shoulders. Berry 
had revealed to them that he spoke 
Spanish enough to be dangerous. 

Their pistols were taken from tliem, 
their carbines, their horses, and what- 
ever else could be found, includiug a 
few pieces of silver in Berry's pocket. 
Then they felt of Collins' pantaloons. 
It had been so long since they echoed 
to the jingle of either silver or gold, 
that even the pockets issued a protest 
at the imputation. Afterwards, the two 
men were inarched across the country to 
a group of adol>e buildings among a 
range of hills, far enoug'i removed from 
the route of travel to bs safe from res- 
cue. They were cast into a filthy room 
where there was neither bed nor blan- 
ket, and bade to rest there. Two of the 
guard, with musquetoons in hand and 
revolvers at waist, occupied the sauie 
room. With them, the dirt and the fleas 
were congenial companions. 

Collins fell a musing. 

"What are you thinking abour, Dick"?" 
Berry asked. 

"Escape. And you"?" 

"Of something to eat." 

Here was a Hercules who was always 
hungry. 

A Mexican, in his normal condition, 
must have drink. A stone ewer of fiery 
Catalan was brought in, and as the 
ijigbt deepened, so did their potations. 
Before midnight the two guards were 
drunk. An hour later, and one of them 
was utterly oblivious to all earthly ob- 
jects. The other amused iiimself by 
pointing his cocked gun at the Ameri- 
cans, laughing lovr and savagely when 
they would endeavor to screen them- 
selves from his cojuic mirth. 

His drunken comrade was lying on his 
back, with a scarf around his waist, in 
which a knife was sticking. 

Collins looked at it until his eyes glit- 
tered. He found time to whisper to 
Beiry : 

"You are as strong as an ox. Stand 
by me when I seize that knife and plunge 
it in the other Mexican's breast. I may 
not kill him the first time, and if I do 



not, then gi'apple with him. The second 
stab shall be more fatal." 

"Unto death," replied Berry. "Make 
haste." 

For one instant the guard took his 
eyes from the movements of the Ameri- 
cans. Collins seized the knife and rose 
up — stealthy, menacing, terrible. They 
advanced upon the Mexjcan. He turned 
as they came across the^room and threw 
out his gun. Too late. Aiming at the 
left side, Collins' blow swerved aside, 
the knife entering just below the breast 
bone and cutting a dreadful gash. With 
the spring of a tiger-cat Berry leajjed 
upon him and hurled him to the floor. 
Again the knife arose— there was a dull, 
penetrating thud, a quiver of relaxing 
limbs, a groan that souudedlikeacurse, 
and beside thp drunken man there lay 
another who would never touch Catalan 
again tliis side eternity. 

Instant flight was entered into. Strip- 
ping the arms from the living and the 
dead, the Americans hurried out. They 
found their horses unguarded ; the 
wretched village was in unbroken sleep, 
and not anyvi'here did wakeful or vigi- 
lant sentinel rise up to question or re- 
strain. By the noon of the next day 
they had reported to Shelby, and for 
many days thereafter a shadow was 
seen on Collins' face that told of the 
ilesperate blow struck in the name of 
self-defence and liberty. After that the 
two men never straggled again. 

Crosses are common in Mexico. Lift- 
ing up their peniteutual arms, however, 
by the wayside, and in forlorn and 
gloomy places, if the3^ do not affright 
one, they at least put one to thinking. 
There where they stand, ghastly and 
weather-beaten under the sky, and alone 
with the stars and the night, mui'der 
has been done. There at the feet of 
them — in the yellow dust of the road- 
way—innocent, it may be, and true, and 
tfko young to die — a dead man has lain 
with his face in a pool of blood. Some- 
times flowers adorn the crosses, and 
votive offerings, and many a rare and 
quaint conceit to lighten the frown on 
the face of death, and fashion a few 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



71 



links in the chain of memory that shall 
make even the dead claim kinship with 
all the glad and sweet-giowiug things 
of the wonderful sumiher weatlier. 

Over beyond Dolores Hidalgo, a pleas- 
ant two-days' journey, there was a high 
hill that held a castle. On either side of 
this there were heavy masses of timber. 
Below the fall of the woodlands a mea- 
dow stretched itself out, bounded on 
the hither side by a stream that was 
limpid and musical. Beyond this 
stream a broken way began, narrowing^ 
down at last to a rugged defile, and 
opening once more into a country fruit- 
ful as Paradise atd filled as full of the 
sun. 

Just where the defile broke away from 
the shade of the great oaks a cross 
stood whose history had a haunting 
memory that was sorrowful even in that 
sinful and sorrowful land. There was 
a young girl who lived in this castle, 
very fair for a Mexican and very stead- 
fast and true. The interval is short be- 
tween seedtiine and harvest, and she 
ripened early. In the full glory of her 
beauty and her womanhood, she was 
plighted to a young commandante from 
Dolores, heir of many fertile acres, a sol- 
dier and an Imperialist. Maybe the 
wooing was sweet, for what came after 
had in it enough of bitterness and tears. 
The girl had a brother who was a guerrilla 
chief, devoted, first to his profession and 
next to the fortunes of Juarez. Spies 
were everywhere, and even from his 
own household news was carried of the 
courtship and the approaching mar- 
riage. 

For days at.d days he watched by the 
roadside, scanning all faces that hur- 
ried by, seeking alone for Ihe face that 
might have beeu told for its happiness. 
One niglit there was a trampling of 
horsemen, and a low^ voice singing ten- 
derly under the moon. The visit had 
been long, and the parting passionate 
and pure. Only a little ways with love 
at his heart and the future 'so near Avith 
its outstretched hands as to reach up al- 
most to the marriage-riug. No murmur 
ran along the lips of the low-iying grasses, 



and no sentinel angel rose up betwixt 
fate and its victim. His uniform car- 
ried death in its yellow and gold. Not 
to his own alone had the fair-haired 
Austrian brought broken iiearts and 
stained and sundered marriage- vows. 
Only the clear, long ring of a sudden 
musket, and the dead Imperialist lay 
with his face in the du.<t and his spirit 
going the dark way all alone. From 
such an interview why ride to sucli an 
ending"/ No tenderness availed him, no 
caress consoled him, no fond farewell 
gave him staff and script fur the jour- 
ney. He died wliere the woods and the 
meadows met — for a love by manhood 
and faith anointed. 

In the morning there had been lifted 
up a cross. It was standing there still 
in the glorious weather. The same 
flowers were blooming still, the 
same stream swe))t on by the 
castle gates, the same splendid sweep of 
woodland and meadow spread itself cut 
as Grcd's land loved of the sky — but the 
gallant Commandante, where was he*? 
Ask of the masses that the pitying an- 
gels heard and carried on their wings to 
"heaven. 

One tall spire, like the mighty stan- 
dard of a king, arose through the lances 
of the sunset. San Miguel was in sight, 
a city bu.ilt upon a hill. Around its for- 
bidding base the tide of battle had 
ebbed and flowed, and there had grim 
old Carterac called out, the cloud of the 
cannon's smoke and the cloud of his 
beard white together : 

"My children, the Third kuoAV how-to 
die. One more victory and one more 
cross for all of you. Forward !" 

This to the Third Zouaves as they 
were fixing bayonets otj the crest of a 
charge with which all the Empire rang. 
Afterwards, when Carterac was buried, 
shot foremost in the breach, the natives 
came to view the grave and turned 
away wondering what manner of a giant 
had been interred therein. He had gone 
but a little way in advance of his chil- 
dren. What San Miguel had spared 
Oravelotte finished. Yeiily war has its 



72 



SHELBY S EXPteDtTlON TO MEXICO 



patriarchs no less reuoAVued than Is- 
ra,el's. 

From out the gates of the town, and 
down the long paven way leading- 
northward, a gallant regiment came 
gaily forth to welcome Shelby. 
The music of the sabres ran 
through the valley. Pennons floated 
wide and free, the burnished guns 
rose and fell in the dim, undulating 
swing of perfect horsemen, and the rays 
of the setting sun shone upon the gold 
of the epaulettes until, as with fire, they 
blazed in the delicious haze of the even- 
ing. 

Some paces forward of all the goodly 
company rode one who looked a soldier. 
Mark him well. That regiment there is 
known as the Empress' Own. The arms 
of Carlota areon the blue of the uni- 
forms. That silken flag, thougli all un- 
baptized by blood or battle, was wrought 
by her gentle hands— hands that wove 
into the tapestiy of time a warp and 
woof sadder than aught of a;)y tragedy 
ever known before in Icing-craft or con- 
quest. She was standing by a little al- 
tar in the palace of Che])ultenec on an 
aftfiruoon in May. The city of Monte- 
zuma was at lier feet in the delicious 
sleep of its siesta. 

"Sweai'," she said, putting forth the 
unfolded standard until the sweep of its 
heavy fringes canopied the long, lus- 
trious hair of the Colonel, "sv/ear to be 
true to king and country. 

The man knelt down. 

"To king, and queen and country," he 
cried, "while a sword can be diawu or 
a squadron mustered." 

She smiled upon hiui and gave him 
her hand as he arose. This he stooped 
low to kiss, repeating again his oath, 
and pledging again all a soldier's faith 
to ihe precious binden laid upon In's 
honor. 

Look at him once ?r.oreas he rides up 
from the town through the sunset. At 
his back i;^ tlie regiment of Carlota, and 
over this regiment the stainless banner 
of Carlota is floating. The face is very 
fair for a Mexican's, and a little Norman 
in its handsome outlines. Some curls 



were m the lustrous hair — not masculine 
curls, but royal enough,perhaps,to recall 
the valorous deeds that were done at 
Flodden, when from over seas the 
beautiful Queen of France, beloved of 
all gallant gentlemen, s?nt to the Scot- 
tish monarch 
"A tourquoise lin.a', and glove, 
And chargert him as her kniglit and love. 
To ma.roh three mii es on English land, 
And strike tlJiee strokes with Scottish brand. 
And hid the hangers of his hand 

In English breezes dance." 
He gave Shelby cordial greeting and 
made him w^elcome to San Miguel in the 
name of the Empire. His eyes, large 
and penetrating, wore yet a sinister look 
that marred somewhat the smile that 
should have ccine not so often to the 
Iface of a Spaniard. He spoke English 
well, talked much of New York which 
he had visited, predicted pc ace andpros- 
perity to Maximilian and his reign after 
a few evil days, and bow^d low in sa- 
lute when he separated. 

That iiian was Col. Leonardo Lopez, the 
traitor of Queretero,the spy of Escobedo, 
the wretch wdio sold his flag, tbe coward 
who betrayed his regiment, the false 
knigbt who denied his mistr( ss, and the 
decorated and ennobled thing who gave 
up his Emi)oror to a dog's death. And 
the price — thirty thousand dollars in 
gold. Is it any wonder that his wife 
forsook him, that his children turned 
their faces aw ay from him, that the 
Church refused him asylum, that a 
righteous soldier of the Liberal cause 
smote him upon either cheek in pres- 
ence of an army on parade, and that 
even the "S'ery la.:£aroin of the sti'eets 
pointed at him as he passed, and shout- 
ed in voluble derision : 
"The Traitor! the Traitor!" 
And yet did all these things ha,ppen to 
the haiidsoni'^ horseman who rode tip 
quietly to thv Expedition in front of 
San Miguel, and bade it welcome in the 
name of hospitality and the Empire. 

Gen. Fc'lix Douay helrl San Louis Po- 
tosi, tlie great granary of Mexico. It 
was the Isrother of this Douay who, 
surrounded and abandoned at Weissem- 
bourg, marched alone and on foot to- 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



73 



ward the enemj, until a Prussian bullet 
found bis lieart. Older, and calmer, and 
wiser, perhaps, than his brother, Gen. 
Felix Douay was the strong rijiht arm of 
Bazaine and of Maximilian. Past sixty, 
gray-bearded and gaunt, he knew war 
as the Indian knows a trail. After 
assigning quarters to the men, he sent at 
once for Shelby. 

" You have come among us for an ob- 
ject," he commenced in perfect English, 
" and as I am a man of few words, please 
state <-o me frankly what that object is." 

" To take service under Maximilian," 
was the prompt reply. 

" What are your facilities for recruit- 
ing a corps of Americans V 

" So ample, General, that if authority 
is given me, I can pledge to you the ser- 
vices of fifty thousand in six months." 

Some other discourse was had between 
them, and Douay fell to musmg a little. 
When he was done, he called an aide to 
his side, wrote a lengthy communica- 
tion, bade the staff officer take it and 
ride rapidly to the city of Mexico, re- 
turning with the same speed when he 
had received his answer. 

As he extended his hand to Shelby in 
parting, he said to him : 

" You will remain here until further 
orders. It may be that there shall be 
work for your hands sooner than either 
of us expect." 

Southward from San Louis Potosi, and 
running far down to the Gulf, even unto 
Tampico, was a low, level sweep of laud, 
where marshes abounded and retreats 
that were almost unknown and well 
nigh inaccessible. In the fever months, 
the fatal months of August and Sep- 
tember, these dismal fens and swamps 
were alive with guerrillas. Vomito 
lurked in the lone lagoons, and lassi- 
tude, emaciation and death peered out 
from behind every palm tree and cy- 
press root. Foreigners there were none 
who could abide that dull greyish ex- 
halation which wrought for the morn- 
ing a winding-sheet, and for the French 
it was not only the valley, but the Val- 
ley of the Shadow of Death. Bazaine's 
light troops, his Voltigeurs and his 

lOA 



Chasseurs of Vincennes, hpd penetrated 
there and died. Most of the Foreign 
Legion had gone in there and perished. 
Two battalions of Zouaves— great, 
bearded, medalled fellows, hronzed by 
Syrian night winds, and tempered to 
steel in the sap and seige of Sebastopol 
—had borne their eagles backward from 
the mist, famishing because of a fever 
which came with the morning and the 
fog. 

No matterhow, the guerrillas fattened. 
Reptiles need little beside the ooze aud 
the foetid vegetation of the lowlands, 
and so when the rains came and the 
roads grew wearisome and long, they 
rose upon the convoys night after night, 
massacreing all that fell into their 
hands, even the women and the live 
stock. 

Figueroa was the fell spirit of the 
marshes— a Mexican past forty-five, 
one-eyed from the bullet of an Ameri- 
can's revolver, tall for his race, and so 
bitter and unrelenticg in his hatred of 
all foreigners, especially Americans, 
that when he dies he will be canonized. 
If in all his life he ever knew an hour of 
mercy or relenting, no record in story or 
tradition stands as its monument. 
Backward across the Eio Grande there 
have been borne many tales of Esco- 
bedo and Carabajal, Martinez aud Cor- 
tina, Lozado the Indian and Rodriguez 
the renegade priest ; but for deeds of 
desperate butchery and vengeance, the 
fame of all of these is as the leaves that 
fell last Autumn. 

No matter his crimes, however, he 
fought as few of them do for his native 
land, and dreaded but two things on 
earth— Dupin and his Con tie- Guerril- 
las. Twice they had brought him to 
bay, and twice he had retired deeper 
and deeper into his jungles, sacrificing 
all the flower of his following, and 
pressed so furiously and fast that at no 
time thereafter could he turn as a hunt- 
ed tiger and rend the foremost of his 
pursuers. 

Figueroa lay close to the high nation- 
al road running from San Luis Potosi 
to Tampico, levying such tribute as he 



74 



she-ley's expedition to MEXICO ; 



could collect by ni^ht and in a manner 
that leftnon'on the morrow to demand 
recompense or reckoning. Because it 
was a post in possession of the Frencii, 
it was necessary for Douay to have safe 
and constant intercourse with Tampico. 
This was impossible so long as Figue- 
roa lived in the marshes and got fat on 
the fog that brought only fever and 
death to the Frenchman and the for- 
eigner. Three expeditions had been 
sent down into the Valley of the Shad- 
ow of Death and had returned, those 
that were left of them soldiers no long- 
er but skeletons whose uniforms served 
only to make the contrast ghastly. The 
road was still covered with ambush- 
ments, and creeping and crawling forms 
that murdered when they should have 
slept. 

With the arrival of Shelby a sudden 
resolution had come to Douay. He 
meant to give him service in the French 
army, send him down first to fight the fog 
and Figueroa, and afterwards— well, the 
future gives generally but small con- 
cern to a Frenchman — hut afterwards 
there could have been no doubt of Dou- 
ay's good intentions, and of a desire to 
reward all liberally who did his bidding 
and who came out of the swamps alive. 
For permission to do this he had sent 
forward to consult Bazaine, and had 
halted Shelby long enough to know the 
Marshal's wishes. 

The aid-de-camp returned speedily, 
but he brought with him only a short 
curt order : 

"Bid the Americans march immedi- 
ately to Mexico." 

There was no appeal. Douay mar- 
shalled the expedition, served it 
with rations and wine, spoke some 
friendly and soldierly words to all of its 
offteers, and bade them a pleasant and a 
prosperous journey. Because he pos- 
sessed no baton is no reason why he 
should not have interpreted aright the 
future, and seen that the auspicious 
hours were fast hastening away when it 
would be no longer possible to lecruit 
an army and attach to the service of 
Maximilian a powerful corps of Amer- 



icans. Bazaiue had' mistrusted their 
motives from the first, and had been 
more than misinformed of their move- 
ments and their numbers since the ex- 
pedition had entered the Empire. As 
for the Emperor his mind had been poi- 
soned by his Mexican counselors, and 
he was too busy then with his botany 
and his butterflies to heed the sullen 
murmurings of the gathering storm in 
the North, and to understand all the 
harsh, indomitable depths of that stoical 
Indian character which was so soon to 
rush down from Chihuahua and grati- 
fy its ferocious appetite in 
the blood of the uptorn and 
uprooted dynasty. They laughed at 
Juarez then, the low, squat Indian, his 
sinister face scarred with the small pox 
like Mirabeau's, and his sleuth-hound 
ways that followed the trail of the Ee- 
public, though in the scent there was 
pestilence, and famine, and death. One 
day the French lines began to contract 
as a wave that is baffled and broken. 
The cliff followed up the wave, and 
mariners like Douay and Jeanningros, 
looking out from the quarter-deck, saw 
not only the granite but the substance 
the granite typified — they saw Juarez 
and his forty thousand ragged follow- 
ers, hungry, brutal, speaking all dialects, 
grasping bright American muskets, 
having here and there an American of- 
ficer in uniform, unappeasable, oncom- 
ing — murderous. Again the waves re- 
ceded and again there was Juarez. 
From El Paso to Chihuahua, from Chi- 
huahua to Matamoras, from Matamoras 
to Monterey, to Matehuala, to Dolores 
Hidalgo, to San Miguel, to the very spot 
on which Douay stood at parting, his 
bronzed face saddened and his white 
hair waving in the winds of the sum- 
mer morning. 

It was no war of his, however. What 
he was sent to do he did. Others plan- 
ned. Douay executed. It might have 
been better if the fair-haired sovereign 
had thought more and asked more of the 
gray-haired subject. 

It was on the third day's march from 
San Luis Potosi that an ambulance 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THI WAR. 



75 



brote down having in its teeping two 
wounded soldiers of the Expedition. The 
accident was near the summit of the 
Madre mountains— an extended range 
between San Luis Potosi and Penama- 
son — and within a mile of the village of 
Sumapetla. The rear guard came with- 
in without it. In reporting, before be- 
ing dismissed for the night, Shelby ask- 
ed the officer of tne ambulance. 

"It is in Sumapetla," the Captain an- 
swered. 

"And the wounded?" 

"At a house with one attendant." 

His face darkened. The whole Madre 
range was filled with robbers, and two 
of his best men, wounded and abandon- 
ed, were at tbe mercy of the murderers. 

"If a hair of either head is touched," he 
cried out to the officer, "it will be better 
that you had never crossed the Rio 
Grande. What avails all the lessons 
you have learned of this treacherous and 
deceitful land, that you should desert 
comrades in distress, and ride up to tell 
me the pleasant story of your own ar- 
rival and safety? Order Kirtley to re- 
port instantly with twenty men." 

Capt. James B. Kirtley came — a young, 
smooth-faced, dauntless officer, tried in 
the front of fifty battles, a veteran and 
yet a boy. The men had ridden thirty 
miles that day, but what mattered it*? 
Had the miles been sixty, the same un- 
questioned obedience would have been 
yielded, the same soldierly spirit mani- 
fested of daring and adventure. 

"Return to Siimapetla," Shelby said, 
"and find my wounded. Stay with 
them, wait for them, fight for them, get 
killed, if needs be, for them, but what- 
ever you do, bring or send them back to 
me. I shall wait for you a day and a 
night." 

A pale-faced man, with his eyes 
drooping and his form bent, rode up to 
Shelby. He plucked him by the sleeve 
and pleaded : 

"General, let me go too. 1 did not 
think when I left them. I can fight. 
Try me. General. Tell Kirtley to take 
me. It is a little thing I am asking of 
you, but I have followed you for four 



years, and I think, small as it is, it will 
save me." 

All Shelby's face lit up with a pity 
and tenderness that was absolutely win- 
ning. He grasped his ijoor, tried sol- 
dier's hand, and spoke to him low and 
softly : 

"Go, and come back again. I was 
harsh, I know, and over cruel, but be- 
tween us two there is neither cloud nor 
shadow of feeling. I do forgive you 
from my soul." 

There were tears in the man's eyes as 
he rode away, and a heart beneath his 
uniform that was worth a diadem. 

It was ten long miles to Sumapetla, 
and the night had fallen. The long, 
swinging trot that Kirtley struck would 
carry him there in tw^o hours ai 
furtherest, and if needs be, the trot 
would grow into a gallop. 

He rode'along his. ranks' and spoke to 
his men: 

"Keep quiet, be ready, be load- 
ed. You heard the ,;,,orders. I ? shall 
obey them or be even beyond the need 
of the ambulance we have been seat 
back to succor." 

Sumapetla was reached in safety. It 
was a miserable squalid village, filled 
full of Indians, and beggars, and dogs. 
In the largest house the wounded men 
were found — not well cared for, but 
comfortable from pain. Their attend- 
ant, a blacksmith, was busy with the 
broken ambulance. 

Kirtley threw forward picquets and 
set about seeking for supper. While 
active in its preparation a sudden vol- 
ley came from the front— keen, dogged, 
vicious. From the roar of the guns 
Kirtley knew that his men had fired at 
close range and altogether. It was a 
clear night yet still quite dark in the 
mountains. Directly a picquet rode ra- 
pidly up, not the least excited yet very 
positive. 

"There is a large body in front of us 
and well armed. They tried a surprise 
and lost five. We did not think it well 
to charge, and I have come back for or- 
ders. Please say what they are quick. 



76 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico ; 



for the boys may need me before I can 
reach them agaiu." 

This was the volunteer who had com- 
manded the rear guard of the day's 
march. 

Skirmishing shots now broke out om- 
inously. There were fifteen men in the 
village and five on outpost. 

"Mount, all," cried Kirtley, "and fol- 
low me." 

The relief took tlie road at a gallop. 

The space between the robbei's and 
their prey was scarcely large enough 
for Kirtley to array his men upon. From 
all sides there came the steady roar of 
musketry, telling how complete the am- 
buscade, and how serviceable the guns. 
Some fifty paces in the rear of the out- 
post the road made a sudden turo, leav- 
ing at the apex of the acute angle a 
broken, zig-zag piece of rock-work capa- 
ble of much sturdy defence, and not 
flanked without a rush and a moment or 
two of desperate in-fi-hting that is 
rarely the choice of the guerrillas. This 
Kiitley had noticed with the eye of a 
soldier and the qvdckness of a man who 
meant to do a soldier's duty first and q. 
comrade's duty afterwards. Because 
ths wounded men had to be saved, was 
no reason why those who were unwound- 
ed should be sacrificed. 

He fell back to the rocky ledge lacing 
the robbers. Word sent to the black- 
smith in the village to hurry, to make 
rapid and zealous haste, for the danger 
was pressing and dire, got for answer in 
return : 

"Captain Kirtley, I am doing my best. 
A Mexican's blacksmith-shop is an anvil 
without a hammer, a forge without a 
bellows, a wheel without its felloes; and 
I have to make, instead of one thing, a 
dozen things. It wiil be two hours be- 
fore the ambulance is mended." 

Very laconic and very true. Kirtley 
never thought a second time, during all 
the long two hours, of the smithy in the 
village, and tlie swart, patient smith 
who, within full sound of the struggling 
musketry, wrought and delved and 
listened now and then in the intervals 
ot his toil to the rising and falling of 



the fight, laughing, perhaps low to him- 
self, as his practiced ear caught the 
various volleys, and knew that neither 
backward nor forward did the Ameri- 
cans recede nor advance a stone's throw. 

The low reach of rock, holding fast 
to the roots of the trees that grew up 
from it, and bristling with rugged and 
stunted shrubs, transformed itself into 
a citadel. The road ran by it like an 
arm that encircles a waist. Where the 
elbow was the Americans stood at bay. 
They had dismounted and led their 
horses still further to the rear — far 
enough to be safe, yet near at hand. 
From the unknown it was impossible to 
tell what spectres might issue forth. 
The robbers held on. From the volume 
of fire their numbers were known as 
two bundled — desperate odds, but it 
was night, and the nighc is always in 
league with the weakest. 

Disposed among the rocks, about the 
roots and the trunks of the trees, the 
Americans fired in skirmishing order 
and at will. Three rapid and persistent 
times the rush of the guerrillas came as 
a great wave upon the little handful, a 
lurid wreath of light all along its front, 
and a noise that was appalling iu the 
darkness. Nothing so terrifies as the 
oscillation and the roar of a hurricane 
that is invisible. Hard by the road, 
Kirtley kept his grasp upon the rock. 
Nothing shook that— nothing shook the 
tension of its grim endurance. 

The last volley beat full into the faces 
of all. A soldier fell forward in the 
darkness. 

"Who's hurt V and the clear voice of 
Kirtley rang out without a tremor. 

"It's me, Jim ; it's Walker. Hard hit 
in the showlder ; but thank God for the 
breech loj^aer, a fellow can load and fire 
with one sound arm left." 

Bleeding thro;igh the few rags stuffed 
into the wound, and faint from much 
weakness and riain, Walker mounted 
again to his post and fought on till the 
struggle was ended. 

Time passed, but lengthily. Nine of 
the twenty were wounded, all slightly, 
however, save Walker— thanks to the 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



77 



dartness and the ledee that seemed 
planted there by a Providence that 
meant to succor steadfast courage and 
devotion. The ambulance was done and 
the wounded were placed therein. 

"It can travel but slowly in the night," 
said Kirtley, to William Fell, who had 
stood by his side through all the bitter 
battle, "and we must paralyze pursuit a 
little." 

"Paralyze it— howf 

"By a sudden blow, such as a prize- 
fighter gives when he strikes below the 
belt. By a charge some good hundred 
paces in the midst of them." 

Fell answered lacunically : 

"Desperate but reasonable. I have 
seen sucli things done. Will it take 
long V 

"Twenty minutes all told, and there 
will be but eleven of us. The nine who 
are wounded must go back." 

The horses w^re brought and mount- 
ed. Walker could scarcely sit in his 
saddle. As he rode to the rear, two of 
his comrades supported him. The part- 
ing was ominous — the living, perhaps, 
taking leave of the dead. 

Fair into the night and the unknown 
the desperate venture held its way. 
Two deep the handful darted out from 
behind the barricade, firing at the in- 
visible. Spectre answered spectre, 
and only the ringing of the revolvers 
was real. The impetus of the charge 
was such that the line of the robbers' 
fire was passed before, reined up 
and countermarching, the forlorn hope 
could recede as a wave that carried the 
undertow. The reckless gallop bore its 
planted fruit. Back through the pass 
unharmed the men rode, and on by the 
ledge, and into Sumapetla. No pursuit 
came after. The fire of the guerrillas 
ceased ere the charge had been spent, 
and when the morning came there was 
the camp, and a thousand blessings for 
the bold young leader who had held his 
own so well, and kept his faith as he had 
kept the fort on its perch among the 
mountains. 

It was a large city set upon a hill that 
loomed up through the mists of the 



evening — a city seen from afar and mu- 
sical with many vesper bells. Peace 
stood in the rank's of the sentinel corn, 
and fed with the cattle that browsed by 
the streams m the meadows. Peace 
came on the wings of the twilight and 
peopled the grasses with songs that 
soothed, and many toned voices that 
made for the earth a symphony. Days 
of short parade and longer merry- 
making dawned for the happy soldiery. 
The sweet, unbroken south wind brought 
no dust of battle from the palms and 
the orange blossoms by the sea. Couriers 
came and went, and told of peace 
throughout the realm— of robber bands 
surrendering to the law— of railroads 
planned and parks adorned— of colonists 
arriving and foreign ships in all the 
ports — of roads made safe for travel, and 
public virtue placed at premium in the 
market lists — of prophecies that bright- 
ened all the future, and to the Empire 
promised an Augustan age. The night 
and the sky were at peace as the city 
grew larger and larger on its hill; and a 
silence came to the ranks of the Espedi- ^ 
tion that was not broken until the camp 
became a bivouac with the goddess 
of plenty to make men sing of fealty 
and obeisance. 

It was the City or Quaretero. 

Yonder ruined convent, its gateway 
crumbling to decay, its fountains strewn 
with bits of broken shrubs and flowers, 
held the sleeping Emperor the night the 
traitor Lopez surrendered all to an In- 
dian vengeance and compassion. When 
that Emperor awoke he had been dream- 
ing. Was it of Miramar and " poor Car- 
lota f 

The convent was afc peace then, and 
the fountains were all at play. Two 
bearded Zouaves stood in its open door, 
looking out curiously upon the serried 
ranks of the Americans as they rode 
slowly by. 

Yonder on the left where a hill arises 
the capture was made — yonder the Aus- 
trian cried out in the agony of this last 
desertion and betrayal : 

" Is there then no bullet for me V 

Later, when the bullets found his 



78 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



heart, they found an image there that 
entered with his spirit into heaven — the 
image of " Poor Cailota." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Quite a large concentration of Ameri- 
cans had taken place in the City of 
Mexico, Many of these were penniless 
— all of them were soldiers. As long as 
they believed in the luck, or the fortune, 
or the good destiny of Shelby — and that, 
being a born soldier, the Empire must 
needs'see and recognize those qualities 
which even his enemies had described 
as magnificent — they were content to 
wait for Shelby's arrival, living no man 
knew how, hungry always, sometimes 
sad, frequently in want of a roll or a 
bed — but turning ever their faces fair to 
the sunrise, saying, it may be a little re- 
proachfully, to the sun: "What hast 
thou in store for us this day, oh ! 
Kingf 

Maximilian was like a man who had a 
desperate race before him, and who had 
started out to win it. The pace in the be- 
ginning was therefore terrible. So firm 
was the stride, so tense were the mus- 
cles, so far in tlie rear were all competi- 
tors, that opposition had well-nigh 
abandoned the contest and resistance 
had become so enfeebled as to be al- 
most an absolute mockery. 

In the noonday of the struggle a halt 
was had. There were so many sweet 
and odorous tlowers, so many nights 
that were almost divine, so much of 
shade, and luxury and ease, so much of 
music by the wayside, and so manA- 
hands that were held out to him for the 
grasping, that the young Austrian — 
schooled in the luxuries of literature 
and the pursuits of science — sat himself 
down just when the need was sorest, 
and smokod, and dreamed, and plan- 
ned, and wrote, and — died. 

Maximilian was never a soldier. Per- 
haps he was no statesman as well. Most 
certainly all the elements of a politi- 
cian were wanting in his character, 
which was singularly sweet, trust- 
ing and affectionate. To sign a 
death warrant gave him nights of soli- 



tude and remorse. Alone with his con- 
fessor he would beseech in prayer the 
merciful God to show to him that mercy 
he had denied to others. On the eve of 
an execution he had been known to iiee 
from his capital as if pursued by some 
horrible nightmare. He could not kill, 
when, to reign as a foreigner, it was 
necessary to kill, as said William the 
Conqueror, until the balance ||is about 
even between those who came over with 
you and those whom you found upon 
your arrival. 

The Emperor had given shelter to 
some honored and august Americans. 
Commodore M. F. Maury, who had pre- 
ceded the Expedition, and who had 
brought his great fame and his trans- 
cendent abilities to the support of the 
Empire, had been made the Imperial 
Commissioner of Immigration. Enter- 
ing at once upon an energetic discharge 
of his duties, he had secured a large and 
valuable grant of land near the city of 
Cordova, which, even as early as Sep- 
tember, 1865, was being rapidly survey- 
ed and opened up for cultivation. Agents 
of colonization had been sent to the Uni- 
ted States, and reports were constantly 
being received of their cordial and 
sometimes enthusiastic reception by the 
people from New Orleans to Dubuque, 
Iowa, and from New York westward to 
San Antonio, Texas. There was a world 
of people ready to emigrate. One 
in five , of all the thousands 
would have been a swart, strapping 
fellow, fit for any service but best for 
the service of a soldier. 

Therefore, when these things w^ere 
told to Shelby, riding down from the 
highlands about Queretero to the low- 
lands about Mexico, he rubbed his hands 
as one who feels a steady flame by the 
bivouac-fire of a winter's night, and 
spoke out gleefully to Langhorne : 

"We can get forty thousand and take 
our pick. Young men for war, and only 
young men emigrate. This Commodore 
Maury seems to sail as well upon the 
land as upon the water. It appears to me 
that we shall soon see the sky again. 
What do you say. Captain ?" 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



79 



Langliorne answered him laconically : 

"The French are not friendly— that is 
to say, they want no soldiers from 
amon": us. You will not be permitted 
to recruit even so much as a front and a 
rear rank; and if this is what you mean 
by seeing the sky, then the sky is as far 
away as ever." 

It was not long before the sequel 
proved which of the two was right. 

Gen. John B. Magruder, who had also 
preceded the Expedition, and who had 
known Marshal Bazaine well in the 
Crimea, was commissioned Surveyor 
General of the Empire through French 
influence, and assigned to duty with 
Commodore Maury. He had spoken 
twice to the Marshal in behalf of Shel- 
by, and spoken frankly and boldly at 
that. He got in reply what Jeannin- 
gros had got, and Depreuil, and Douay, 
and all of them. He got this senten- 
tious order : 

"Bid Shelby march immediately to 
Mexico." 

Gen. Preston, who through much peril 
and imminent risk by night and day, 
had penetrated to the Capital, even 
from Piedras Negras, had begged 
and pleaded for permission to 
retirrn with such authority vouchsafed 
to Shelby as would enable him to recruit 
his corps. Preston fared like the rest. 
For answer he also got the order : 

"Bid Shelby march immediately to 
Mexico." 

And so he marched on into the glori- 
ous land between Queretero and the 
Capital, and into the glorious weather, 
no guerrillas now to keep watch against 
— no robbers anywhere about the hills 
or the fords. The French were every- 
where in the sunshine. Their picquets 
were upon all the roads. The villages 
contained their cantonments. There 
was peace and prosperity and a great 
rest among all the people. The women 
laughed in the glad land, and the voices 
of many children told of peaceful days 
and of the fatness of the field and the 
vine — of the streams that ran to the 
sea, and uplands green with leaf or gray 
with ripening grain. 



Ma;;^be Fate rests its head upon its 
two hands at times, and tliinks of what 
little things it shall employ to make or 
mar a character — save or lose a life — 
banish beyond the light or enter into 
and possess forevermore a Paradise. 

The march was running by meadow 
and river, and the swelling of billowy 
wheat, and great groves of orange trees 
wherein the sunshine hid itself at noon 
with the breeze and the mocking birds. 

It was far into the evening that John 
Thrailkill sat by the fire of his mess, 
smoking and telling brave stories of the 
brave days that were dead. Others 
were grouped about in dreaming indo- 
lence or silent fancy — thinking, it may 
be, of the northern land with its pines 
and firs — of great rolling waves of 
prairie and plain, of forests where cab- 
ins were and white-haired children all 
at play. 

Thrailkill was a guerrilla who never 
slept— that is to say, who never knew 
the length or breadth of a bed from 
Sumpter to Appomattox. Some woman 
in Platte county had made him a little 
black flag, under which he fought. This, 
worked in the crown of his hat, satisfied 
him with his loyalty to his lady-love. 
In addition to all this, he was one among 
the best pistol shots in a command 
where all were excellent. 

Perhaps neither before nor since the 
circumstance here related, has anything 
so quaint m recklessness or bravado 
been recorded this side the Crusades. 
Thrailkill talked much, but then he had 
fought much, and fighting men love to 
talk now and then. Some border story 
of broil or battle, wherein, at desperate 
odds, he had done a desperate deed, 
came uppermost as the night deepened, 
and the quaint and scarred guerrilla was 
over-generous in the share he took of 
the killing and the plunder. 

A comrade by his side— Anthony West 
— doubted the story and ridiculed its 
narration. Thrailkill was not swift to 
anger for one so thoroughly reckless, 
but on this night he arose, every hair in 
his bushy beard bristling. 

"You disbelieve me, it seems," 



8o 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



he said, bending over the other 
nntil he could look into his 
eyes, "and for the skeptic there is 
only the logic of a blow. Is this real, 
and this ?" and Thrailkill smote West 
twice in the face with his open hand — 
once on either cheek. No insult could 
be more studied, open and unpardon- 
able. 

Comrades interfered, instantly, or 
there would have been bloodshed in the 
heart of the camp and by the flames of 
the bivouac fire. Each was very cool — 
each knew what the morrow would 
bring forth, without a miracle. 

The camp was within easy reach of a 
town that was more of a village 
than a town. It had a church and 
a priest, and a regular Don 
of an Alcalde who owned leagues 
of arable land and two hundred game 
cocks besides. For Shelby's especial 
amusement a huge main was organized, 
and a general invitation given to all 
who desired to attend. 

The contest was to begin at noon. 
Before the sun had risen, Capt. James 
H. Gillette came to Thrailkill who was 
wrapped up in his blankets, and said to 
him: 

"I have a message for you." 

"It is not long, I hope." 

"Not very long, but very plain." 

"Yes, yes, they are all alike. I have 
seen such before. Wait for me a few 
minutes." 

Thrailkill found Isaac Berry, and 
Berry m turn soon found Gillette. 

The note was a challenge, brief and 
peremptory. Some conferences followed, 
and the terms were agreed upon. These 
were savage enough for an Indian. 
Colt's pistols, dragoon size, were the 
weapons, but only one of them was to 
be loaded. The other, empty in every 
chamber, was to be placed alongside the 
loaded one. Than a blanket was to 
cover both, leaving the butt of eacii ex- 
posed. He who won the toss was 
to make the first selection and 
Thrailkill won. The loaded 

and the unloaded pistol lay hidden be- 
neath a blanket, the two handles so 



nearly alike that there was no appreci- 
able difference. Thrailkill walked up to 
the tent, whistling a tune. West stood 
behind him, watching with a face that 
was set as a flint. The first drew, cast 
his eyes along the cylinder, saw that it 
was loaded, and smiled. The last drew 
— every chamber was empty. Death 
was his portion as absolutely and as cer- 
tainly as if death already stood by his 
side. Yet he made no sign other than 
to look up to the sky. Was it to be his 
last look ■? 

The terms were ferocious, yet neither 
second had protested against them. It 
seemed as if one man was to murder 
another because one had been lucky in 
the toss of a silver dollar. As the case 
stood, Thrailkill had the right to fire 
six sJiots at West before West had the 
right to crrasp even so much as a loaded 
pistol— and Thrailkill was known for 
his deadly skill throughout the ranks of 
the whole Expedition. 

The two were to meet just at sunset, 
and the great cock main was at noon. 
To this each principal went,andeach sec- 
ond,and before the main was over the life 
of a man stood as absolutely upon the 
prowess of a bird as the Spring and its 
leaves upon the rain and the sunshine. 

And thus it came about: 

In Mexico cock-fighting is a national 
recreation — perhaps it is a national bless- 
ing as well. Men engage in it when 
they would be robbing else, and way- 
laying couriers bearing specie, and 
haunting the mountain gorges until the 
heavy trains of merchandise entered 
slowly m to be swallowed up. 

The priests fight there, and the fatter 
the padre the finer his chicken. From 
the prayer-book to the pit is an easy 
transition, and no matter the aves so 
only the odds are in favor of the church . 
It is upon the Sundays that all the 
pitched battles begin. After the matin 
bells the matches. When it is vespers, 
for some there has been a stricken and 
for some a victorious field, No matter r 
again— for all there is absolution. 

The Alcalde of the town of Linares 
was a jolly, good-conditioned Mexican 



AN UNWKITTEN LEAF OF TllK WAK. 



8l 



who knevy a bit ot English, picked up 
in California, and who liked the Ameri- 
ean.s but for two things— tlieir hard 
drinking and their hard swearing. Find- 
ing any ignorant of these accomplish- 
ments, there flowed never any more for 
them a stream of friendship from the 
Alcalde's fountain, It became dry as 
suddenly as a spring in the desert. 

Shelby won his heart by sending him 
a case of elegant cognac — a present 
from Douaj' — and therefore was the 
main improvised which was to begin at 
noon. 

The pit was a great circle in the midst 
of a series of seats that arose the one 
above the other. Over the entrance — 
which was a gateway opening like the 
lids of a book — was a chair of state — an 
official seat occupied by the Alcalde. 
Beside Mm sat a bugler in uniform. At 
the beginning aud tlie end of a battle 
this bugler, watching the gestures of 
tlie Alcalde, blew triumphant or peni- 
rential strains accordingly as the Al- 
calde's favorite lost or won. As the 
main progressed the notes of gladness 
outnumbered those of sorrow. 

A born cavalryman is always suspi- 
cious. He looks askance at the woods, 
the fences, the ponds, the morning fogs, 
the road that forks and crosses, and 
the road that runs into the rear of a hal- 
ted column, or into either flank at rest 
in bivouac. It tries one's nerves so to 
fumble at uncertain girths in the dark- 
ness, a rain of bullets pouring down at 
the outposts and no slielter anywhere 
for a long week's marching. 

And never at any time did Shelby put 
aught of faith in Mexican friendship, or 
aught of trust in Mexican welcome and 
politeness. His guard was perpetual, 
and his intercourse like his marching, 
was always in skirmishing order. Hence 
one-half the forces of the Expedition 
were required to remain in camp under 
arms, prepared for any emergency, 
while the other half, free of restraint, 
could accept the Alcalde's invitation or 
not as they saw fit. The most of them 
attended. With the crowd went Thrail- 
kill and West, Gillette aud Berry. All 

llA 



the village was there. The pit had no 
caste. Benevolent priests mingled with 
their congregations and bet their pesos 
on their favorites. Lords of many herds 
and acres, and mighty men of the coun- 
try round about, the Dons of the hacien- 
das pulled ott" their hats to the peons and 
staked their gold against the greasy sil- 
ver palm to palm. Fair senoritas shot 
furtive glances along the ranks of the 
soldiers— glances that lingered long up- 
on the Saxon outline of their faces and 
retreated only when to tlie light of curi- 
osity there had been added that of un- 
mistakable admiration. 

The bugle sounded and the weighing 
began. The sport was new to many of 
the spectators — to a few it was a sealed 
book. Twenty-five cocks were match- 
ed— all magnificent birds, not 
so large as those fought in America 
but as pure in game aud as rich in plu- 
mage. There, too, the fighting is more 
deadly, that is to say, it is more rapid 
and fatal. The heels used have been 
almost thrown aside here. In the north 
and west absolutely— in New Orleans 
very nearly so. These heels, wrought of 
the most perfect steel and carved like 
a scimetar, have an edge almost exquis- 
ite in its keenness. They cut asunder 
like a sword-blade. Failing in instant 
death, they inflict mortal wounds. Be- 
fore there is mutilation there is murder. 

To the savage reality of combat there 
was added the atoning insincerities of 
music. These diverted the drama of its 
premeditation, and gave to it an air of 
surprise that, in the light of an accom- 
modating conscience, passed unchal- 
lenged for innocence. In Mexico the 
natives rarely ask questions— the strang- 
ers never. 

Shelby seated himself by the side of 
the Alcalde, the first five or six notes of 
a charge were sounded aud the battle 
began. Thereafter with varying for- 
tunes it ebbed and flowed through all 
the long afternoon. Aroused into in- 
stant championship, the Americans es- 
poused the side of this or that bird, and 
lost or won as the fates decreed. There 
was but scant gold among them, all count- 



S3 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



ed,lbut twentydollars or twenty thousand, 
it would have been the same. A nation 
of born gamblers, it needed not a cock 
tight to briug- all the old national traits 
uppermost. A dozen or more were on 
the eve of wagering their carbines and 
revolvers, when a sign from Shelby 
checked the uu soldierly impulse and 
brought them back instantly to a reali- 
zation of duty. 

Thrailkill had lost heavily— that is to 
say every dollar he owned on earth. 
West had won without cessation- 
won in spite of his judgment, which 
was often adverse to the wagers 
lie laid. In this, maybe, Fate 
was but flattering him. Of what use 
would all his ,vinnings be after the 
sunset ? 

It'was the eighteenth battle, and a 
maguificeut cock was brought forth who 
had the crest of an eagle and the eye of 
a basilisk. More sonorous than the bu- 
gle, his voice had blended war and mel- 
ody in it. The glossy ebony of his 
plumage needed only the sunlight to 
make it a mirror where courage might 
have arrayed itself. In an instant he 
was everybody's favorite— in his favor 
all the odds were laid. Some few clus- 
tered about his antagonist— among them 
a sturdy old priest who did what he 
could to stem the tide rising in favor of 
the bird of the beautiful plumage. 

Infatuated like the rest, Thrailkill 
would have staked a crowu upon the 
combat; he did not have even so much 
as one real. The man was miserable. 
Once he walked to the door and looked 
out. If at that time he had gone forth, 
the life of West would liave gone with 
him, but he did not go. As he returned 
he met Gillette, who spoke to him: 

"You do not bet, and the battle is 
about to begin." 

"I do not bet because I have not won. 
The pitcher that goes eternally to a 
well is certain to be broken at last." 

"And yet you are fortunatie." 

Thrailkill shrugged Ins shoulders and 
looked at his watch. It wanted an hour 
yet of the sunset. The tempter still 
tempted him. 



"You have no money, then. Would 
you like to borrow f 

"No." 

Gillette mused awhile. They were 
tieing on the last blades, and the old 
priest had cried out: 

"A doubloon to a doubloon against 
the black cock !" 

Thrailkill's eyes glistened. Gillette 
took him by the arm. He spoke rapid- 
ly, but so low and distinct that every 
word was a thrust : 

"You do not want to kill West— the 
terms are murderous — you have been 
soldiers together — you can take tlie 
priest's bet— here is the money. But." 
and he looked him fair in the face, "if 
you win you pay me — if you lose I 
have absolute disposal of your fire." 

"Ah !" and tlie guerrilla straightened 
himself up all of a sudden, "what would 
you do with my fire f 

"Keep your hands clean from inno- 
cent blood, John Thrailkill. Is not that 
enough f 

The money was accepted, the wager 
with the priest was laid, and the battle 
began. When it was over the beautiful 
black cock lay dead on tlie sands of the 
arena, slain by the sweep of one teriific 
blow, while over him, in pitiless defi- 
ance, his antagonist, dun in plumage 
and ragged in crest and feather, stood a 
victor, conscious of his triumph and his 
prowess. 

The sun was setting, and two men 
stood face to face in the glow of the 
crimsoning sky. On either flank of 
them a second took his place, a look of 
sorrow on the bold bronze face of Berry, 
the light of anticipation in the watchful 
eyes of the calm Gillette. Well kept, 
indeed, had been the secret of the 
tragedy. The group who stood 
alone on the golden edge of the 
evening were all who knew the 
ways and the means of the work be- 
fore them. West took his place as a 
man who had shaken hands with life 
and knew how to die. Thrailkill had 
never been merciful, and this day of all 
days were the chances dead against a 
moment of pity or forgiveness. 



AN UNVVaiTTEN' LEAK OF TilE WAR. 



Tiio gioauil was ii little patch ot: 
uia.ss l)csi<le a stream, having- trees in 
the rear of it, and trees over biiyoiid the 
reach of tiie waters riinaiii^^ iiiiisically 
to the sea. In the distance there were 
Iiouses from which i)eacefid smoke as- 
cended, Through the hnze of the ^a,- 
tlieriug' twilight the sorind of bells came 
from the homeward-pioihliuii' herds,and 
I'rom the fields the haiyi>y voices of the 
reapers. 

West stood full front to his adversary 
—certain of death. He expected noth- 
iniu: l)eyond a quick and a speedy bullet 
—one Vv'hich would kill without iufiict- 
iug needless pain. 

The word was given. Thrailkill threw 
Ilia pistol out, covered his autagoiiiet 
once fairly, looked once into his eyes, 
and saw that they did not quail, and 
then, with a motion as instantaneous as 
it was unexpected, lifted it up overhead 
and lired in the air. 

Gfillette had won his wager. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The city of all men's hopes and fears 
and aspirations — the city of the swart 
cavaliers of Cortez and the naked Avar- 
r'iors of Montezuma, who rushed with 
l>are bosom on lance and sword-blade — 
the city under tfie shadow of the old- 
world Huasco— that volcano, it may be, 
that was in its youth wlien Ararat bore 
aloft the Ark as a propitiation to the 
God alike of the rainbow and the deluge 
— and that when the floods sui)sided 
sent its lava waves to the Pacific Ocean 
— the city which had seen the cold glit- 
ter of Northern steel flash along the 
l)roken way of Conteras, ami wind itself 
up, striped thick with biooii, into the 
Iieart of Chepultepec— the city filled now 
with Austrians, and Belgians, and 
Frenchmen, and an Emperor newly 
crowned with n)tinhood and valor, and 
an Empress, royal with an imperial 
youth and beauty — the city of Mexico 
was reached at last. 

For many the long march was about 
to end— for others to begin again — 
longer, drearier, sterner than any march 



(;ver yet taken for king or eountry— the 
march down into the Valley ofethe Sha- 
dow, and over beyond the Kiver and in- 
to the unknown and eternal. 

Marshal JJazaine was a soldier who 
had seen service; in Algeriii, in the Cri- 
mea.in Italy--especially at l\Iagenta--and 
he had vt'on the baton at last in Mexico, 
that baton the First Napoleon declared 
might l)e in the knapsack of every sol- 
dier. The character of the man was a 
study some studen t of history may love 
to stumble upon in the future. Past 
fifty, white-haired where there was hair, 
bald over the foreliead as one sees al! 
Frenchmen who have served in Algeria, 
he made a fine figure on hoisebacik, be- 
cause from the Avaist up his body was 
long, lithe and perfectly trained; but 
not such a fine figure (m foot, because 
the proportion was illy preserved be- 
tween the two extremities. He was am- 
bitious', brave to utter recklessness, 
crafty yet outspoken and fiank, a sav- 
age ar'stocrat who had married a fail- 
faced Spaniard and a million, merciless 
in discipline, beloved of his troops, 
adored by liis military family, a gam- 
bler who had been known to win a thou- 
sand ounces on a single card, a specula- 
tor and the owner of ships, a husband 
whom even the French called true, a fa- 
ther anda Judge wiio,after lie had caress- 
ed his infant, voted death at tiie court- 
martial so often that one officer Ix;- 
gan to say to another : 

"He shoots them all," 

Bazaine was a skillfid soldier. As 
long as it was war with Juarez, he kept 
Juarez starving and running- some- 
times across the Rio Grande into Texas, 
where the Federals fed him, jsud some- 
times in the mountains about El Paso, 
never despondent, it is true, yet never 
well-filled in eitlier commissariat or car- 
tridge-box. After the visit of Gen. 
Castelneau, an aid-de-canip of Napole- 
on, and the reception of positive orders 
of evacuation, the Marshal let the Lib- 
erals have pretty much their own way, 
so that they neither iujurcd nor inter- 
rupted the French soldiers coming and 
going about the country at will. As the 



H 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



Freuch waves receded the w.ives of tlie 
Juaiistas advanced. Bazaiae sold them 
cannon, and nuiskets, and much ammu- 
nition, it is said, and even sei!?e guns 
with which to halter down the very 
walls of Maxin)ilian's palace itself. 
Those who have accused him of this 
have slandered and abused the man. He 
may have known mucli of many things 
— of ingratitude not one heart-throb. 
Not his the aggravation of evacuation, 
the sudden rending asunder of the whole 
frame-work of Imperial society, the 
great fear that fell upon all, the patriot- 
ic uprisings that had infection and ju- 
bilee in them, the massacre of Mexicans 
who had favored the Austrian, the 
breaking up of all schemes for emigra- 
tion and colonization, and the ending of 
a day that was to bring the cold, long 
night of Queretero. 

Rudolph, Emperor of Germany, who 
was born in 1318, and who was the son 
of Albert IV., Count of Hnpsburg, was 
the founder of tbat family to which 
Maximilian belonged. In 1382, Rudolph 
placed his son Albert on the throne of 
Austria, and thus begins the history of 
that house which has swayed the des- 
tinies of a large portion of Europe for 
nearly eight hundred years, a house 
which, through many terrible struggles, 
has gained and lost and fought on and 
ruled on, sometimes wisely and some- 
times not, yet ever ruling in the name 
of divine right and of tiie House of 
Hapsburg. 

Through the force of marriage, pur- 
chase and inheritance the State of Aus- 
tria grew in extent beyond that of any 
other in the German Empire. In 1359, 
Rudolph IV. assumed the title of Arch- 
duke Palatine, and in 1363, his reign 
was made notorious by the valuable ac- 
quisition of the Tyrol. This was tlie 
commencement of the history of the 
Archdukes, who were thereafter as- 
signed to the high position of Em- 
peror, the first taken from among 
them being Alfred II., who was chosen 
in 1438. The marriage of the bold, un- 
scrupulous and ambitious Maximilian I., 
at the age of eighteen, to Mary, daugh- 



ter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Bur- 
gundy, in 1477, added to Austria's terri- 
torial claim largely, and embraced FUiii- 
ders, Frauchc Comte, and all the Low 
Countries. In 1531, Ferdinand I. mar- 
ried Ann, sister of Louis, King of Hun- 
gary and Bohemia, who was killed at 
the battle of Mohaez, in 1536, his em])ire 
being absorbed and incorporated with 
Austria. Upon the events of the lif- 
teenth century, Charles V. left an im- 
mortal impress, and the blood of this 
great Emperor was in the veins of Max- 
imilian of Mexico. 

In 1618, Europe, alarmed at the in- 
creasing territorial aggrandizement of 
Austria, and torn by feuds between 
Protestants and Catholics, saw the com- 
mencement of the thirty years' war. It 
terminated in the treaty of Westphalia iji 
164S,whicli accomplisedthe independence 
of the German States. In 1713, Austria 
gained the Italian Provinces by the treaty 
of Utrecht, and in 1730, the last male 
of the House of Hapsburg, Charles II., 
died, the succession falling upon his 
daughter, Maria Theresa. She was suc- 
ceeded by her son Joseph II., and in 
1793, at the age of 33, Francis II. suc- 
ceeded his father, Leopold II., a ikI be- 
came Emperor of Germany, King ol 
Bohemia, Hungary, etc. His reign was 
unusually stormy, and in three cam- 
paigns against the Freuch, he lost much 
of his territory and was foiced into the 
unfortunate treaty of Presburg. In 
1804, he assumed the title of Francis I., 
Emperor of Austria, and in 1806, yielded 
up that of Emperor of Germany. Thus, 
through an unbroken line, male and fe- 
male, did the House of Hapsburg hold 
the title of Emperor of Germany from 
1437 to 1806. Maria Louisa, the daughter 
of this Francis, was married to the great 
Napoleon in 1810, and in 1813 her father 
was in arms agaiust France, and in the 
alliance with Rassia, Prussia and Eng- 
land. In 1815 he had regained much of 
his lost territory, and had succeeded in 
cementing more firmly than ever the 
contending elements of the Austrian 
Empire. 

Francis I. died jn 1835, leaving the 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



Sk 



tluone to his sou Ferdinand I., avIio, in 
consequence of tlie political revolntiou 
of 1848, the fatia;uc of state affairs, and a 
wretched condition of health, abdicated 
lu the same year, in favor of liis brother, 
Archduke Fi'ancis Charles, who, on the 
same day, transferred his vight to the 
throne to liis eklest sou, the preseut Em- 
peror, wlio was declared of age at eigh- 
teen. Hungaiy refused to recognize 
the new lu on arch, and constituted a 
Republic under Kossuth, April 14th, 
1849. Bloody aud short-lived, the Re- 
]>ublic was conquered and crushed un- 
der the feet of the Cossack and the 
('roat. 

And in such guise is this history given 
of one wlio, inheriting many of the 
splendid virtues of his race, was to in- 
lierit some of its sorrows aud tragedies 
as well. 

Feidinand Maximilian, Emperor of 
Mexico, was born in the palace of Schon- 
hrun, near Vienna, on the 10th day of 
.lu.ly, A. D. 1833. He was the second son 
of Francis Charles, Archduke of Aus- 
trio, aud of the Archducess Frederica 
Sophia. His eldest brother was Francis 
•Joseph T., the preseut Emperor of the 
Austrian Empire. Two younger brothers 
embraced the family — and among the 
whole there was a tenderness and affec- 
tion so true and so rare in statecraft 
tijat in remarking it to the mother of 
the princes. Marshal McMahon is re- 
ported to have said : 

" Madam, these are young men such 
as you seldom see, and princes such as 
you never see." 

In height Maximilian was six feet two 
inches. His eyes were blue and pene- 
trating, a little sad at times and often 
introspective. Perhaps never in all his 
life had there ever come to them a look 
of craft or cruelty. His forehead was 
broad and high, prominent where ideal- 
ity shouid abound, wanting a little in 
hrmness, it: phrenology is true, yet 
compact enough and well enough pro- 
portioned to indicate resources in re- 
serve and abilities latent and easily 
aroused. To a large mouth was given 
the Hapsburg lip, that thick, protruding 



semi-deft uuder-li)), too heavy for 
beauty, too iuunobile for features tliat, 
vxnder the iron destiny tliat ruled the 
hour, sliould have suggested Caesar oi- 
Napoleon. A gieat yellow beard fell in 
a wave to liis waist. At times this was 
parted at tlie chin, and descended in 
two separate streams, as it were, sillder, 
glossier, heavier than any yellow beard 
of any yellow-haired Hun or Hungarian 
that had followed him from the Rhine 
and the Danube. 

He said pleasant and courtly things in 
German, in English, Hungarian, Slav- 
onic, French, Italian and Spanish. In 
natural kindness of temper, aud in ele- 
gance aird refiuemeut of deportment, 
he surpassed all who surrounded hnn 
and all with whom he came in contact. 
Noblemen of great learning and cosmo- 
politan reputation were his teacliers. 
Prince Esteraze taught him the 
Hungarian language ; Count de 
Schnyder taught him mathematics ; 
Thomas Zerman taught him naval tac- 
tics and the Italian language. A splen- 
did horseman, he excelled also in ath- 
letic sports. With the broadsword or 
the rapier, few men could break down 
his guard or touch him with the steel's 
point. 

At the age of sixteen he visited 
Grreece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Madeira 
and Africa. He was a poet who wrote 
sonnets that were set to music, a botan- 
ist, a book-maker, the captain of a frig- 
ate, an admiral. He did not love to see 
men die. All his nature was tenderly 
human. He loved flowers, and music, 
and statuary, and the repose of the 
home circle and the fireside. He had a 
palace called Miramar which was a 
paradise. Here the messengers found 
him Avhen they came bearing in their 
hands the crown of Mexico— a gentle, 
lovable prince— adored by the Italians 
over whom he had ruled, the friend of 
the third Napoleon, a possible heir to 
the throne of Austria, a chivalrous, ele- 
gant, polished gentleman. 

How he died the world knows— be- 
trayed, butchered, shot by a dead wall 
thinking of Carlotta. 



S6 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



France never tliorouglily understood 
,the war between the States. Up to the 
evacuation of Richmond by Lee, Louis 
Napoleon believed religiously in the 
success of the Southern Confederacy. 
An alliance otFeusive and defensive with 
President Davis was proposed to him by 
Minister Slide]], an alliance whicli guar- 
anteed to him the absolute ])ossession of 
Mexico and the undisturbed erection of 
an empire witliiu its borders. For this 
]]e was asked to raise the blockade at 
Charleston and New Orleans, and furn- 
ish for offensive operations a corps of 
seventy-five thousand French soldiers. 
He declined the alliance because he be- 
lieved it unnecessary. Of what used to 
hasten a result, he argued, which in tlie 
end would be inevitable. 

After Appomattox Court House he 
awoke to something like a realization of 
the drama in which he was the cliief 
actor. The French nation clamored 
against the occupation. Its cost was enor- 
mous in blood and treasure. America, 
sullen and vicious, and victor in a gi- 
gantic war, looked aci'ossthe Rio Grande 
with her hand upon lier sword. 
Diplomacy could do nothing against 
a million of men in arms. It 
is probably that in this supreme 
moment Mr. Seward revenged on France 
The degradation forced upon Mm by the 
Trent affair, and used language so plain 
to the Imperial minister that all ideas 
of further foothold or aggrandizement 
in the new world were abandoned at 
once and for ever. 

When Shelby arrived in Mexico tlie 
situation was peculiar. Ostensibly Em- 
peror, Maximilian had scarcely anymore 
I'eal authority than the Grand Chamber- 
lain of his houseliold. Bazaine was the 
military autocrat. The mints, the mines 
and the custom houses were in his pos- 
session. His soldiers occupied all the 
ports where exporting and importing 
were done. Divided first into military 
departments, and next into civil depart- 
ments, a French general, or colonel, or 
officer of the line of some grade, com- 
manded each of the first, and an Impe- 
rial Mexican of some kind, generally 



half Juaristaand half robber, command- 
ed each of tlie last. For their allies the 
French had a mcist supreme and sove- 
reign contempt — a contempt as natural 
as it was undisguised. Conflicts, there- 
fore, necessarily occurred. Civil law, 
even in sections where civil law might 
have been made beneficial, rarely ever 
lifted its bead above the barricade of 
bayonets, and its officers— finding tlie 
French supreme in everything, especi- 
ally in their contempt — surrenderecl 
wliatever of dignity or official apprecia- 
tion belonged to them, and without re- 
signing or resisting, were content to 
plunder their fiieuds or traffic with the 
enemy. 

Perhaps France had a reason or two 
for dealing thus harshly with the civil 
administration of affairs. Maximilian 
was one of the most unsuspecting and 
confiding of men. He actually believed 
in Mexican faith and devc=ti(!r! — i;; such 
things as Mexican j_)iioriotism .a-iid love 
of peace and order. He would listen 
to their promises and become enthusias- 
tic; to their plans and grow convinced; 
to their oaths and their pledges, and take 
no thought for to-morrow, when the 
oaths were to become false and the 
pledges violated. France wished to 
arouse him from his unnatural dream of 
trusting goodness and gentleness, and 
put in lieu of the fatal narcotic more of 
iron and blood, 

France had indeed scattered lives 
freely in Mexico. At first 'England and 
Spain had joined with France in an in- 
vasion f(n- certain feasible and specified 
purposes, none of which purposes, how- 
ever, were to establish an empire, en- 
throne a foreign prince, support him by 
a foreign army, seize possession of the 
whole Mexican 'country, govern it as 
part of the royal possessions, make of 
it in time, probably, a great menace, but 
certain— whatever the future might be- 
to ruffle the feathers pretty roughly 
upon that winged relation of tlie great 
American eagle, the Monroe Doctrine. 

Before the occupation, however, Mex- 
ico was divided into two parties — tliat 
of the Liberals, led by Juarez, and that 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF TJHE WAR 



87 



of the Church, its political management 
in the hands of the Archbishop, its mil- 
itary management in the hands of Mir- 
amon. Comonfort, an Utopian dreamer 
and Socialist, yet a Liberal for all that, 
lenounced the Presidency in I808. 
Thereupon the capital of the nation was 
seized by the Church party, Miramon at 
its head, and much wrong- was done to 
foreigners— so much wrong, indeed, 
tliat from it the alliance sprung that 
was to sow all over the country a terri- 
ble crop of armed men. 

In 1861, England, France and Spain 
united to demand from Mexico the pay- 
ment of all claims owed by her, and to 
demajud still further and stronger some 
absolute guarantee against future mur- 
ders and spoliations. 

England's demands were based upon 
tike assertion that on the 16th day of 
November, 1860, Miramon unlawfully 
took from English residents one hun- 
dred and tifty thousand pounds sterling. 
This money was in the house of the 
British Legation. The house was at- 
tacked, stoned, llred into, some of its 
domestics killed and Avounded, and the 
Minister himself saved with difficulty. 
Afterwards, at Tacubaya, an outlying 
village of tlie capital, seventy-three 
Englishmen were brutally murdered — 
shot at midnight in a ditch, and to ap- 
pease, it is thought, a moment of savage 
superstition and cruelty. To this day it 
is not known even in Mexico why Mir- 
amon gave his consent to this horrid 
butchery. In other portions of the 
country, and indeed in every portion of 
it where there were Englishmen, they 
were insulted with impunity, robbed of 
their possessions, often imprisoned, 
sometimes murdered, and frequently 
driven forth penniless from among their 
tormentors. 

A treaty had been made in Paris, in 
18o9, between Spain and the Chui'ch 
party, which provided for the payment 
of the Spanish claims. This treaty was 
aunulled when Juarez came into power, 
and the refusal was peremptory to pay a 
single dollar to Spain. The somewhat 
novel declaration was also made that 



the Republic of Mexico owed to its own 
citizens about as much as it could pay, 
and that when discriminations had to be 
made they should be made against the 
foreigner. Spain became furiously indig- 
nant, and joined in with England in the 
alliance. 

France had also her grievances. A 
Swiss banker named Jecker, who had 
been living in Mexico a few years prior 
to the expedition of the three great 
powers, had made a fortune higli up 
among the millions. Mirauiou looked 
upon Jecker with awe and admiration, 
and from friends the two men soon be- 
came to be partners. A decree was is- 
sued by Miramon on the 39th of Octo- 
ber, 1859, providing for the issuance of 
three millions pounds sterling in bonds. 
These bonds were to be taken for taxes 
and import duties, were to bear six per 
cent, interest, and were to have the in- 
terest paid for five years by the house 
of Jecker. As this was considerably 
above the average life of the average 
Mexican government, Miramon felt 
safe in taking no thought of the inter- 
est after Jecker had paid for the first 
five years. Certain regulations also 
provided that the holders of these 
bonds might transfer them and receive 
in their stead Jecker's bonds, paying a 
certain percentage for the privilege of 
the transfer. Jecker was to issue the 
bonds and to receive five per cent, on 
the issue. He did not, however, con- 
summate the arrangement as the pro- 
visions of the decree required, and at 
his own suggestion the contract was 
modified. At last the result narrowed 
itself down to this : the Church party 
stood bound for three millions seven 
hundred and twenty thousand pounds 
sterling, aud Jecker found himself in a 
position where it was impossible to 
comply with his contract. In May, 1860, 
his house suspended payment. His 
creditors got the bonds, the Church par- 
ty gave place to the Liberal pai tj , and 
then a general repudiation came. This 
party refused to acknowledge any debt 
based upon tlie Miramou-Jecker trans- 
action, just it had refused to cany out 



88 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



the stipulations of a sovereign treaty 
made witli Spain. 

The most of Jecker's creditors were 
Frenchmen, and France resolved to col- 
lect not only this debt, but claims to 
the amount of twelve millions of dollars 
besides. Failing to obtain a peaceful 
settlement, late in the year 1860, the 
French Minister left the Capital after 
this significant speech : 

"If there shall be a war between us it 
shall be a war of destruction." 

And it was. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The three complaining powers— Eng- 
land, France and Spain met in Lon- 
don, October, 1861, and agreed that 
each should send upon the Expedition an 
equal naval force, and that the number 
of troops to be furnished by each should 
be regulated according to the number 
of subjects which the respective powers 
had in Mexico. It was further expres- 
sed and stipulated that the intervention 
should only be for the purpose of en- 
forcing the payment of the claims as- 
sumed to be due, and that in no particu- 
lar was any movement to be made look- 
ing to an occupation of the country. 
England, however, was dissatisfied with 
a portion of France's claim, and Spain 
coincided with England. Notwith- 
standing this fact, however, a joint fleet 
was sent to Vera Cruz, which reached 
its destination January 6th, 1863. On 
the 7th, six thousand three hundred 
Spanish, two thousand eight hundred 
French, and eight hundred English 
troops wers disembarked, and by a 
treaty made with Juarez at Soledad, 
and signed February 19th, 1862, these 
troops were permitted to leave the fever 
marshes about Vera Cruz, and march 
to the glorious regions about Orizava. 

Orizava, on the National Road mid- 
way between Cordova and Puebla, is a 
city whose climate and whose surround- 
ings might recall to any mind the Gard- 
en of Eden. Its skies are always blue, 
its air is always balmy, its women are 
always beautiful, its fruit is always 



ripe, and its sweet repose but rarely 
broken by the clamor of marauding 
bands, or the graver Avarfare of more 
ferocious revolutionists. 

To admit the strangevs into such a 
land, sick from the tossings of the 
sea, and weak from the poison of 
the low lagoons, was worse for Juarez 
than a pitched battle wherein the vic- 
tory rested with the invaders. Some of 
them at least would lay hands upon it 
for its beauty alone, if other and more 
plausible reasons could not be found. 
At an early day, however, the ambitious 
designs of Napoleon began to manifest 
themselves. There were some protests 
made, some sharp correspondence had, 
not a few diplomatic quarrels indulged 
in, and at last, to cut a knot they could 
not untie, the English and Spanish 
troops were ordered back peremptorily 
to Vera Cruz, the two nations abandon 
ing the alliance, and withdrawing their 
forces entirely from the country. This 
left the French alone and unsupported. 
The treaty of Soledad expired, and 
they were ordered by Juarez to 
return to their original position. For 
answer there was an immediate attack. 

The city of Puebla, ninety miles north 
from Orizava, strong by nature, had 
been still more strongly fortified, and 
was held by a garrison of twenty thou- 
sand Liberals, under the command of 
Saragosa, an ardent and impassioned 
young Mexican, as brave as he was 
patriotic. Gen. Lorencez, who com- 
manded the French, without waiting 
for reinforcements, and being destitute 
of a siege train, dashed his two thousand 
soldiers against the ramparts of Puebla, 
and had them shattered and repulsed. 
The battle lasted a whole day through, 
and thrice the Third Zouaves passed the 
ditch, and thrice they were driven back. 
At night! all a retreat was had, and after 
sore marching and fighting Lorencez 
regained Oiizava, fortifying in turn, and 
waiting as best he could for succor from 
France. 

It came speedily in the shape of Gen. 
Forey and twelve thousand men. 
Puebla was besieged and captured, and 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OP THE WAR. 



89 



without further resistance aud without 
waiting? to give Juarez time to 
repair his losses, lie hurried on to the 
City of Mexico, meeting everywhere an 
enthusiastic reception from the Imperi- 
al Mexicans who believed that the work 
of subjugation had been finished. 

What the French do is generally done 
quickly. On the 17th of May, 1863, Pu- 
ebla surrendered; on the 13th of May 
Juarez evacuated the Capital; on the 
10th of June the French took possession, 
and on the 16th Gen. Forey issued a de- 
cree for the formation of a orovisional 
government. This new government as- 
sembled with great solemnity on the 
25th of June. On the 2d of July they 
published an edict containing a list of 
two hundred and fifteen persons who 
were declared to constitute the Assem- 
bly of Notables, intrusted with the du- 
ty of providing a plan for a permanent 
government. On the 8th of July this 
body was installed in the presence of 
the French Commander-in-chief, and 
Count Dubois de Saligny, Minister 
Plenipotentiary of France. A commit- 
tee was next appointed to draft a form 
of government, and on the 10th this 
committee submitted their plan to the 
Assembly, which was unanimously 
adopted. 

These were its chief points: 

1st— The Mexican Nation adopts for 
Its form of government a limited, hered- 
itary monarchy, with a Catholic Prince. 

2d— The Sovereign will take the title 
of Emperor of Mexico. 

3d— The Imperial Crown of Mexico is 
offered to His Imperial Highness, Prince 
Ferdinand Maximilian, Archduke of 
Austria, for him and his descendants. 

4th — In case of any circumstances, im- 
possible to foresee, the Archduke Fer- 
dinand Maximilian should not take pos- 
session of the throne which is offered 
him, the Mexican nation submits to the 
benevolence of Napoleon III., Emperor 
of the French, to indicate to her another 
Catholic Prince. 

And thus was that government crea- 
ted which was so soon to set in misery 
and tears. 

12A 



It is not generally known, but it is 
true, however, that as early as October 
30th, 18G1, Maximilian was offered the 
throne of Mexico and declined it. While 
expressing himself extremely grateful 
for the confidence reposed in his wis- 
dom and moderation, and for the many 
sentiments of respect embraced in the 
letter containing the offer, he declared 
that he would first have to be assured of 
the will and co-operation of the coun- 
try. And even when the French had 
conquered and occupied every impor- 
tant place in the Empire, and after the 
Assembly of Notables had created a 
government and sent its deputation to 
notify Maximilian of his unanimous 
election as Emperor, he still lingered as if 
unwilling to tempt the unknown. Did 
some good angel come to him in dreams 
and whisper of the future 1 Who 
knows ? Me at least deserved such 
heavenly visit. 

After he had accepted the second offer 
of the throne, and before his departure 
from Miramar, Maximilian sent a spe- 
cial messenger to Mexico bearing a com- 
munication to Juarez, which was written 
by Baron de Pont, his counsellor. It 
was dated Bellevue Hotel, Brussels, 
March 16th, 1864, and contained proposi^ 
tions to the effect that Maximilian did 
not wish to force himself upon the Mex- 
icans by the aid of foreign troops, 
against the will of the people ; that ho 
did not wish to change or make for 
them any political system of govern- 
ment contrary to an express wish of a 
majority of the Mexicans ; that he 
wished the bearer of the letter to say to 
President J aarez, that he, Maximilian, 
was willing to meet President Juarez in 
any convenient place, on Mexican soil, 
which President Juarez might desig- 
nate, for the purpose of discussing the 
affairs of Mexico, in an amicable man- 
ner; and that doubtless an under- 
standing and conclusion might be 
reached wholly in unison with the will 
of the people. 

The gentleman bearing the letter 
went to Mexico, saw President Juarez, 
stated his mission, and gave him a copy 



9© 



SHBLBY's expedition to MEXICO ; 



of the communication. The President 
coolly answered that he could not con- 
sent to any meeting with Maximilian. 

This was in March. In April, 1864, 
the newly chosen Emperor sailed" away 
from Trieste —from his beautiful home 
by the blue Mediterraneau — from the 
Old World with its luxury and its art— 
from a thousand memories fresh with 
the dawn of youth and sparklinj? iu the 
sunshine of happiness—from the broad 
segis of an Empire whose monarch he 
might have been— from a proud fleet 
created and made formidable by his 
genius — from the tombs of liis ancestors 
and the graves of his kindred— and for 
what"? To attempt an impossible thing. 
Instead of a civilized and Christian 
monarch, the Mexicans needed mission- 
aries. Instead of the graces and virtues 
of European culture and education, the 
barbarians required grape-shot and can- 
ister. Instead of plans for all kinds of 
improvements — for works of usefulness 
and adornment— the destroying vandals 
could be happy only with a despotism 
and the simple austerity of martial law. 
Poor Austrian and poor Emperor! At- 
tempting to rule through justice and 
compassion, he seemed never to have 
known that for the work of regenera- 
tion he needed one hundred thousand 
foreign soldiers. 

There can be no doubt of the enthusi- 
asm with which Maximilian and liis 
beautiful Empress were greeted when 
they landed at Vera Cruz. Indeed, 
Irom the sea to the great lakes about 
the capital, it was an ovation such as 
one seldom sees in a country where all 
is treachery, stolidity, brutality and ig- 
norance. The fires of a joyous welcome 
that were lit at Vera Cruz blazed all 
along the route, and flared up like a 
conflagration in Paso del Macho, iu 
Cordova, in Puebla, smoking yet from 
the terrible bombardment, and on the 
lone mountain Rio Frio— where, looking 
away to the north, they, for the first 
time, might have almost seen the great 
cathedral spire of Mexico looming up 
through the mist— that hoary and august 
pile,, as old as Cortez, and bearing high 



up, under the image of a saint, Monte- 
zuma's sacrificial stone, having yet upon 
it the blood of the foreigner. 

The omen was unheeded. 

When Shelby arrived in Mexico, Max- 
imilian had been reigning over a year. 
The French held all the country that 
was worth holding— certainly all the 
cities, the large towns, the mining dis- 
tricts, and the sea-ports. Besides the 
French troops, the Emperor had in his 
service a corps of Imperial Mexicans, 
and a small body of Austrian and Bel- 
gian auxiliaries. The first was capable 
of infinite augmentation, but they were 
uncertain, unreliable, and apt at any 
time to desert in a body to the Liberals. 
The last were slowly wasting away — 
being worn out as it were by sickness 
and severe attrition. The treasury was 
empty. Brigandage, a plant of indig- 
enous growth, still flourished and grew 
luxuriantly outside every garrisoned 
town or city. The French could not 
root it up, although the French shot 
everything upon which they got their 
hands that looked a little wild or start- 
led. No matter for a trial. The order 
of an officer v*'as as good as a decree 
from Bazaine. Thousands were thus 
offered up as a propitiation to the god of 
good order— many of them innocent- 
all of them shot without a hearing. 

This displeased the Emjjeror greatly. 
His heart was really with his Mexicans, 
and he sorrowed over a fusilade for a 
whole week through. At times he re- 
monstrated vigorously with Bazaine, but 
the impurturbable Marshal listened pa- 
tiently and signed the death warrants as 
fast as they were presented. These futile 
discussions at last ended in an estrange- 
ment, and while Maximilian was Em- ^ 
peror in name, Bazaine was Emperor in 
reality. 

With a soldier's quickness and power 
of analysis, Shelby saw and understood 
all these things and treasured them up 
against the day of interview. This was 
speedily arranged by Commodore Maury 
and Gen. Magruder. Maximilian met 
him without ceremony and with great 
sincerity and frankness. Marshal Ba- 



AN UNWRlTTExV LEAF OF THE WAR. 



9' 



zaine was present. Count de None, the 
son-in-law of Gen. Harney, and the 
chief of Bazaine's civil staff, was the in- 
terpreter. The Emperor, while under- 
standing English, yet preferred to con- 
verse in French, and to hold all his in- 
tercourse with the Americans in that 
language. 

Shelby laid his plans before him at 
once. These were to take immediate 
service in his Empire, recruit a 
corps of forty thousand Americans, 
supercede as far as possible the 
native troops lii his army, consoli- 
date the government against the time of 
the withdrawal of the French soldiers, 
encourage emigration in every possible 
manner, develop the resources of the 
country, and hold it, until the people 
became reconciled to the change, with 
a strong and well organized army. 

Every proposition was faithfully ren- 
dered to the Emperor, who merely bow- 
ed and inclined his head forward as if 
he would hear more. 

Shelby continued, in his straightfor- 
ward, soldierly manner : 

"It is only a question of time, Your 
Majesty, before the French soldiers are 
withdrawn." 

Marshal Bazaine smiled a little sar- 
castically, it seemed, but said nothing. 

"Why do you think so ?" inquired the 
Emperor. 

"Becaujie the war between the States 
is at an end, and Mr. Seward will in- 
sist on the rigorous enforcement of the 
Monroe Doctrine. France does not de- 
sire a conflict with the United States. 
It would neither be popular nor profita- 
ble. I left behind me a million men in 
arms, not one of whom has yet been 
discharged from the service. The na- 
tion is sore over this occupation, and 
the presence of the French is a perpet- 
ual menace. I hope Your Majesty will 
pardon me, but in order to speak the 
truth it is necessary to speak plainly." 

"Go on," said the Emperor, greatly 
interested. 

"The matter whereof I have spoken 
to you is perfectly feasible. I have au- 



thority for saying that the American 
government would not be adverse to 
the enlistment of as many soldiers in 
your army as might wish to take 
service, and the number need only bo 
limited by the exigencies of the Em- 
pire. Thrown upon your own resources, 
you would find no difficulty, I think, in 
establishing the most friendly relations 
with the United States. In order to pat 
yourself in a position to do this, and in 
order to sustain yourself sufficiently 
long to consolidate your occupation of 
Mexico and make your government a 
strong one, I think it absolutely neces- 
sary that you should have a corps of 
foreign soldiers devoted to you person- 
ally, and reliable in any emergency." 

On being appealed to, Commodore 
Maury and Gen. Magruder sustained 
his view of the case and Shelby contin- 
ued : 

"I have under my command at pres- 
ent about one thousand tried and expe- 
rienced troops. All of them have seen 
much severe and actual service, and all 
of them are anxious to enlist in support 
of the Empire. With your permission, 
and authorized in your name to increase 
my forces, and in a few months all the 
promises given here to-day could be 
made good." 

The Emperor still remained silent. It 
appeared as if Shelby was an enigma he 
was trying to make out;— one which in- 
terested him at the same time that it 
puzzled him. In the habit of having 
full and free conversations with Com- 
modore Maury, and of reposing in him 
the most unlimited confidence, he would 
look first at Shelby and then at Maury, 
as if appealing from the blunt frank- 
ness of the one to the polished sincerity 
and known sound judgment of the 
other. Perhaps Marshal Bazaine knew 
better than any man at the interview 
how keenly incisive had been Shelby's 
analysis of the situation ; and how ab- 
solutely certain were events, neither he 
nor his master could control, to push the 
last of his soldiers beyond the ocean. 
At intervals, the calm, immobile face 
would flush a little, and once or twice 



92 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



he folded and unfolded a printed des- 
patch held in his hands. Beyond these 
evidences of attention, it was not known 
that Bazaine was even listening. His 
own judgment was strongly in favor of 
the employment of the Americans, and 
had the bargain been left to him, the 
bargain would have been made before 
the end of the interview. He was a 
soldier, and reasoned from a soldier's 
standpoint. Maximilian was a Christian 
ruler, and shrank within himself, all his 
nature in revolt, when the talk was of 
bloodshed and provinces held by the 
bayonet. His mind was convinced from 
the first that Shelby's policy was the 
best for him, and he leant to it as to 
something he desired near 1dm for sup- 
port when the crisis came. He did not 
embrace it, however, and make it part 
and parcel of his heart and his affec- 
tions. Therein began the descent that 
ended only at Queretaro, After the 
French left he had scarcely so much as 
a bundle of reeds to rest upon. Tliose 
of his Austrians and Belgians spared by 
pestilence and war died about him in 
dogged and desperate desjair. They 
did not care to die, only they knew they 
could do no good, and as Lieutenant 
Karnak said, when speaking for all the 
little handful, they saw the end plainer, 
perhaps, than any removed yet a stone's 
throw further from the finale. 

"This last charge will be soon over, 
boys, and there won't be many of us 
killed, because there are so few of us 
to kill; but" — and he whispered it while 
the bugles were blowing— "although we 
die for our Emperor to-day, he will die 
for us to-morrow." 

When the rally sounded Karnak's 
squadron of seventy came back with six. 
Karnak was not among them. 

The Emperor did not reply directly to 
Shelby. He rose up, beckoned De None 
to one side, spoke to him quietly and 
earnestly for some brief moments, dis- 
missed his visitors pleasantly and with- 
drew. His mind, however, it appears, 
had been made up from the first. He 
was not willing to trust the Americans 
in an organization bo large ancj ^q cpm- 



plete— an organization composed of forty 
thousand skilled and veteran soldiers, 
commanded by ofiicers of known valor, 
and anxious for any enterprise, no mat- 
ter how daring or desperate. Besides, 
he had other plans in view. 

As De Noue passed out he spoke to 
Shelby: 

"It's no use. The Emperor is firm on 
the point of diplomacy. He means to 
try negotiation and correspondence with 
the United States. He thinks Mr. Sew- 
ard is favorably disposed toward him, 
and that the spirit of the dominant party 
will not be adverse to his experiment 
with the Mexicans. His sole desire is to 
give them a good government, lenient 
yet restraioing laws, and to develop the 
country and educate the peoi)le. He be- 
lieves that he can do this with native 
troops, and that it will be greatly to the 
interest of the American govercment to 
recognize him, and to cultivate with him 
the most friendly relations. At any 
rate," and De Noue lowered his voice— 
"at any rate. His Majesty is an enthusi- 
ast, and you know that an enthusiast 
reasons ever from the heart instead of 
the head. He will not succeed. He 
does not understand the people over 
whom he rules, nor any of the dangers 
which beset him. You know he once 
governed in Lombardy and Venitia, 
when they were Austrian provinces, and 
he made so many friends there for a 
young prince that he might well supi)ose 
he had some divine right to reign suc- 
cessfully. There is no similarity, how- 
ever, between the two positions. A 
powerful army was behind him when he 
was in Italy, and a singularly ferocious 
campaign, wherein the old Austrian 
Marshal lladetsky manifested all the 
fire and vigor of his youth, had 
crushed Italian resistance to the earth. 
It was the season for the physician and 
the peace-maker, and the Emperor came 
in with his salves and his healing oint- 
ments. Singularly fitted for the part he 
had been called upon to perform, lie 
won the hearts of all with whom he 
came in contact, and left at last univer- 
sally loved and regretted. It is no use 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE'WAR. 



93 



I say again, General, the Emperor will 
not prive you employment." 

"I knew it," replied Shelby. 

"How 'J "and de None shrugged his 
sbonlders. 

" From his conntenancc. Not once 
conld I bring the blood to his calm, be- 
nignant face. He lias faith bat no en- 
thusiasm, and enthusiasm such as he 
needs would be but another name for 
audacity. I say to you in all frankness, 
Count de Noue, Maximilian will fail in 
his diplomacy." 

" Your reasons, General." 

" Because he Avill not have time to 
work the problem out. 1 have traveled 
elowly and in my own fashion from 
Predras Negras to the city of Mexico — 
traveled bv easy stages when the need 
was, and by forced marches when the 
need was, fighting a little at times 
and resting a little at ease at times, but 
always on guard and watching upon the 
right hand and upon the left. Save the 
ground held by your cantonments and 
your garrisons, and the ground your 
cannon can hold ia range and your cav- 
alry can patrol and scour, you have not 
one foot in sympathy -with you, with the 
Emperor, with the Empire, with any- 
tliing that promises to be respectable in 
government or reliable m administra- 
tion. Juraez lives as surely in the 
hearts of the people as the snow is 
eternal on the brow of Popoeatapetl, 
and ere an answer could come from 
Seward to the Emperor's Minister of 
S-tate, the Emperor will have no Minister 
of State. That's all, Count. I thank you 
^ery much for your kind offices to-day, 
and would have given a good accountbf 
my Americans if king-craft had seen 
the wisdom of their employment. I 
must go back to my men now. They 
expect me early." 

Thus terminated an interview that 
had more of destiny in it, perhaps, than 
the seeming indifference and disinclina- 
tion to talk ou the part of the Emperor 
might indicate. The future settled the 
question of policy that alone kept the 
ruler and his subject apart. When the 
struggle came that Shelby had so plain- 



ly and bluntly depicted, Maximilian was 
in the midst of eight million of savages, 
without an army — with scarcely a guard 
— with none upon whom he could rely — 
abandoned, deserted and betrayed. 
Was it any wonder, therefore, that the 
end of the Empire shonld be the dead 
wall at Queretaro ? 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The annunciation of Maximilian's em- 
phatic resolution bore heavily upon the 
Americans for some brief hours, and 
thej- gathered about their barracks in 
squads and groups to talk over the mat- 
ter as philosophers and look the future 
full in the face like men. A soldier is 
most generally a fatalist. Some few of 
them have presentiments, and some 
that abounding reverence for the Scrip- 
tures that makes them Christians even 
in the vengeful passions of pursuit ; but 
to the masses rarely ever comes any 
thouglit of the invisible — any care for 
what lies out of eight and out of reach 
and under the shadows of the sunset 
world. Sufficient unto the day is indeed 
for them the evil thereof. 

These Americans, however, of Shelby's 
had moralized much about the future, 
and had dreamed, it may be, many use- 
less and unprofitable dreams about the 
conquests that were to give to them a 
home, a flag, a country— a portion of a 
new land tilled full of the richness of 
the mines and the tropics. And many 
times in dreaming these dreams they 
went hungry for bread. Silver had be- 
come almost invisible of late, and if all 
the purses of the men had been emptied 
into the lap of a woman, the dollars that 
might have been gathered up 
would scarcely have paid the 
price oE a bridal veil. Still 
they were cheerful. When every other 
resource failed, they knew they were in 
a land of robbers, and that for horses 
and arms none surpassed them in all the 
Empire. Hence when Shelby called 
them around him after his interview 
with the Emperor, it was with some- 



94 



SHBLBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



thing of apathy or at least of indifference 
that they listened to his report. 

"We are cot wanted," he commenced, 
"and perhaps it is best so. Those who 
have fought as you have for a principle 
have nothing more to gain in a war for 
occupation or conquest. Our necessities 
are grievous, it is true, and there is no 
work for us in the line of our profession; 
but to-day as upon the first day I took 
command of you, I stand ready to abide 
your decision in the matter of our des- 
tiny. If you say we shall march to the 
headquarters of Juarez, then we shall 
march, although all of you will bear me 
witness that at Piedras Negras I coun- 
seled immediate and earnest service in 
his government. You refused then as 
you will refuse to-day. Why? Because 
you are all Imperialists at heart just as I 
am, and because, poor simpletons, you 
imagined that France and the United 
States might come to blows at last. 
Bah! the day for that lias gone by. 
Louis Napoleon slept too long. The 
only foreigner who ever understood our 
war— who ever looked across the ocean 
with anything of & prophet's vision — 
who ever said yes when he meant yes 
and no when he said no— was Palmers- 
ton, and he was an Abolitionist per se." 

Here Shelby checked himself sudden- 
ly. The old ironical fit had taken pos- 
session of him— one which always came 
to him on the eve of the battle or the 
morning of the conflict : 

"I find myself quoting Latin when 1 
do not even understand Spanish. How 
many of you know enough Spanish to 
get you a Spanish wife with an acre of 
bread fruit, twenty-five tobacco plants 
and a handful of corn? We cannot 
starve, boys." 

The men laughed long and loud. 
They had been gloomy at first and a 
little resolved, some of them, to take to 
the highway. As poor as the poorest 
there, Shelby came among them with 
his badinage and his laughter, and in an 
hour the forces of the Expedition were 
as a happy family again. Plans for the 
future were presented, discussed and 
abajidoned. Perhaps there would be 



no longer any further unity of action. 
A great cohesive power had been sud- 
denly taken away, and there was danger 
of the band breaking up — a band that 
had been winnowed in the fierce winds 
of battle, and made to act as with one 
impulse, by the iron influences of disci- 
pline and disaster. Many came solely 
for the service they expected to take. If 
they had to dig in the ground, or suffer 
chances in the raising of cotton or corn, 
they preferred to do it where it was not 
necessary to plow by day and stand 
guard over the mules and oxen at night 
— to get a bed at the end of the furrows 
instead of a fusilade. 

To do anything, however, or to move 
in any direction, it was necessary first 
to have a little money. Gov. Reynolds, 
with the same zeal and devotion that 
had always characterized his efforts in 
behalf of Missourians during the war 
in his own country, sought now to ob- 
tain a little favor for the men at the 
hands of Marshal Bazaine. In conjunc- 
tion with Gen. Magruder, he sought an 
interview with the Marshal, and repre- 
sented to him that at Parras the Expe- 
dition had been turned from its origin- 
al course, and forced to march into the 
interior by his own positive orders. This 
movement necessarily cut it off from all 
communication with friends at home, 
and rendered it impossible for those 
who composed it to receive either letters 
or supplies. Had it been otherwise, and 
had the march to the Pacific been per- 
mitted, in conformity with the original 
intention, access to California was easy, 
and the trips of the incoming and out- 
going steamers to and from Guaymas 
and Mazatlan regular and reliable. In 
their view, therefore, the Marshal, thoy 
thought, should at least take the matter 
under consideration, and act in the 
premises as one soldier should in deal- 
ing with another. 

Bazaine was generous to extrava- 
gance, as most French officers are who 
hold power in their hands, and whose 
whole lives have been spent in barrack 
and field. He took from his military 
chest lifty dollars apiece for the men 



AN UTTWRITTEN LEAF OP THE WAR 



95 



and officers, share and share alike, and 
this amount came to each as a rain to a 
field that the sun is parching. It put 
into their hands in a moment, as it were, 
the choosing of their own destiny. 
Thereafter every man went the way 
that suited him best. 

Commodore Maury had, several 
months before, been made Imperial 
Commissioner of Emigration, and was 
at work upon his duties with the ambi- 
tion of a sailor and the intelligence of a 
savant. All who came in contact with 
him loved the simple, frugal, gentle 
Christian of the spiritual church and 
the church militant. Some of his family 
were with him. His son was there, Col. 
Richard H. Maury, and his son's wife, 
and other Americans who had families, 
and who were at work in his office. 
These formed a little society of them- 
selves—a light as it were in the night of 
the exiles. The Commodore gave the 
entire energies of his massive mind to 
the work before him. He knew well 
the exhausted and discontented condi- 
tion of the South, and he believed that 
a large emigration could be secured 
with but little exertion. He dispatched 
agents to the United States charged with 
the duty of representing properly the 
advantages and resources of the country, 
and of laying before the people the ex- 
act condition of Mexican affairs. This 
some of them did in a most satisfactory 
manner, and as a result a great excite- 
ment arose. By one mail from New 
York he received over seven hundred 
letters asking for circulars descriptive of 
the country, and of the way to reach it. 

Maury's renown had filled the old 
world as well as the new. His "Physical 
Geography of the Sea" saw itself 
adorned in tine graces of eleven separate 
languages. It also brought him fame, 
medals, crosses, broad ribbons of appre- 
ciation and purses well filled with gold, 
these last being the offerings sea cap- 
tains and shippers made to the genius 
who laid his hand upon the ocean as 
upon a slate, and traced thereon the 
routes that the winds favored, ond the 
route* that Lad in ambush upuu them 



shipwreck and disaster. His calm, be- 
nevolent face, set in a framework of iron 
gray hair, was one which the women and 
the chilflren loved— a picture that had 
over it the aureole of a saint. No gen- 
tler man ever broke bread at the table of 
a court. Much of the crispness and thf 
sparkle of the salt water ran through hU 
conversation. He was epigrammatic to 
a degree only attained on board a man- 
of-war. His mind had the logic of in- 
stinct. He divined while other men 
delved. Always a student, the brillianct; 
of his imagination required at his hands 
the most constant curbing. Who thai 
has read that book of all sea books has 
forgotten his reference to the gulf 
stream wljen he says "There is a river 
in the midst of the ocean." Destiny 
gave him a long life iln.t he might com- 
bat against the treachery of the sea. 
When he died he was a conqueror. 

Gen. Magruder was the imperial Com- 
missioner of the Land Office, and he, 
too, had gathered his family around 
him, and taken into his sei-vice other 
Americans weary of degradation at 
home, and exiles in a land that might to- 
day have been Maximilian's. Magruder 
had once before entered Mexico as a 
conqueror. Ail its ways and its moodw 
were known to him, and often in the 
sunshiny weatlier, when the blue air 
blessed the glad earth with its blessings 
of freshness and fragrance, those who 
were dreaming of the past followed him 
hour after hour about Chepultepec, and 
over the broken way of Cerro Gordo, 
and in amid the ruins of Molino del Rey, 
and there where the Beleu gate stood 
yet in ghastly and scattered fragments, 
and yonder in its pedregral and under 
the shadow of Huasco, about the crest 
of Churubusco, green now in the gar- 
ments of summer, and asleep so peace- 
fully in the arms of the sunset that the 
younger loiterers think the old man 
strange when he tells of the storm and 
the massacre, the wounded that were 
bayoneted and the dead that were butch- 
ered after all life had fled. There are 
no spectres there, and no graves among 
the rums, and no splotches as of blood 



96 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



upon the velvet leaves. Yes, surely the 
old man wanders, for but yesterday, it 
seems to them, the battle was fought. 

Soldiers never repine. Destiny with 
them has a name which is called April. 
One day it is gracious in sunshiuy 
things, and the next ruinous with rain- 
storms and cloudy weather. As it 
comes they take it, laughing always and 
at peace with the world and the things 
of the world. Some faces lengthened, 
it may be, and some hopes fell in the 
hey-day and the morning of their life, 
when Shelby told briefly the story of 
the interview, but beyond the expres 
sions of a certain vague regret, no man 
went. Another separation was near at 
hand, one which, for the most of them 
there, would be the last and irre- 
vocable. 

In the vicinity of Cordova there was 
a large extent of uncultivated land 
which had once belonged to the Church, 
and which had been rudely and unscru- 
pulously confiscated by Juarez. When 
Maximilian came into possession of the 
government, it was confidently believed 
that he would restore to the Church its 
revenues and territory, and more especi- 
ally that portion of the (jcclesiastical 
domain so eminently valuable as that 
about Cordova. It embraced, probably, 
some half a million acres of cotton and 
sugar and coffee land, well- watered, and 
lying directly upon the great national 
road from Vera Cruz to the capital, and 
upon the Mexican Imperial Railway, 
then finished, to Paso del Macho, 
twenty-five milej soutliward from Cor- 
dova. 

Maximilian, however, confirmed the 
decree of confiscation issued by Juarez, 
and set all this land apart for the benefit 
of American emigrants who, aa actual 
settlers, desired to locate upon it and 
begin at once the work of cultivation. 
Men having families received six hun- 
dred and forty acres of land, at the 
stipulated price of one dollar and a 
quarter per acre, and men without fami- 
lies three hundred and twenty acres at 
the same price. Commissioner Maury, 
remembering his schooling and the ex- 



perience of his Washington days when 
he ruled the JSTational Observatory so 
much to the glory of his country and the 
honor of science, adopted the American 
plan of division, and thereby secured 
the establishment of a system that was 
as familiar to the new comers as it was 
satisfactory. 

Many settlers arrived and went at 
once to the colony, which, in honor of 
the most perfect waman of the Nine- 
teenth Century, was named Carlota. A 
village sprung up almost in a night. 
The men were happy and sung at their 
toil. Birds of beautiful plumage flew 
near and nearer to them while they 
plowed, and in the heat of the after- 
noons they reposed for comfort under 
orange trees that were white with bloom 
and golden with fruit at the same time. 
So impatient is life in that tropical land 
that there is no death. Before it is 
night over the eyes the sun again has 
peopled all the groves with melody and 
perfume. The village had begun to put 
on the garments of a town. Emigration 
increased. The fame of Carlota went 
abroad, and what had before appeared 
only a thin stream of settlers, now took 
the form of an inundation. 

Shelby told his men all he knew about 
Carlota, and advised them briefly to pre 
empt the legal quantity of land and give 
up at once any further idea of service in 
the ranks of Maximilian's army. Many 
accepted his advice and entered at once 
and heartily upon the duties of this new 
life. Others, unwilling to remain in the 
Empire as colonists, received permission 
from Bazaine to march to the Pacific. 
On the long and dangerous road some 
died, soDje were killed, and some took 
shipping for California, for China, lor 
Japan, and for the Sandwich Islands. 
A few, hearing wonderful stories of the 
treasures Kidd, the pirate, had buried 
on an island in tlie Pacific Ocean, got 
aboard a schooner at Mazatlan and 
sailed away in quest of gold. Those 
that survived the adventure returned 
starving, and for bread joined the Impe- 
rial army in Sonora. Perhaps fifty took 
service in the Third Zouaves. A singu- 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF" THK WAR. 



97 



Tar incident detevmined the regiment of 
tlieir clioice. After authority had been 
received from the Marshal foi' tlie en- 
listment, a dozen or more strolled into 
the Almeda where, of evenings the 
bands played and tlie soldiers of all arms 
promenaded. In each corps a certain 
standard of height had to be complied 
Avith. The grenadiers had need to be 
six feet, the artillerymen six feeta,nd an 
inch, the cuirassiers six feet, and the 
hussars six feet. Not all being of the 
same stature, and not wishing to be sep- 
arated, the choice of the Americans was 
reduced to the infantry regiments. It 
is further obligatory in the French ser- 
vice, that when soldiers are on duty, the 
jnivate in addressing an otfieer shall re- 
move his cap and remain with it in his 
liaud until the conversation is finished. 
This was a species of discipline the 
Americans had never learned, and they 
stood watching the various groui>s as 
tliey passed to and fro, complying scru- 
]>nlously with the regulations of the ser- 
vice. At last a sctuad of Zouaves saun- 
tered nonchalantly by — great bearded, 
medalled fellows, bronzed by African 
suns and swarthy of brow and cheek as 
any Arab of the desert. The pictures- 
<iue uniform attracted all eyes. It was 
war dramatized— it was campaigning 
(expressed in poetry. An ofBcer called to 
one of the Zouaves, and he went forward 
saluting. Tiiis was done by bringing 
the right hand up against the turban, 
with the palm extended in token of re- 
spect, but the turban itself was not re- 
moved. The subordinate did not uncover 
to his superior, and therefore would 
the Americans put on turbans, and make 
Zouaves of themselves. Capt. Pierron, 
more of an American than a Frenchman, 
supervised the metamorphosis, and 
when the toilette was complete even 
Siielby himself, with his accurate cav- 
alry eyes, scarcely recognized his old 
Confederates of the four years' war. At 
daylight the next morning they were 
nuuching away to Monterey at the dou- 
ble quick. 

Gen. Sterling Price, of Missouri, with 
a remnant of Lis body guard and a few 



personal friends, built himself a bamboo 
house in the town of Carlota, and com- 
menced in good earnest the life of a 
farmer. Emigration was active uovr 
both from Texas overland and by water 
from the gulf. Gen. Slaughter and 
Capt. Price established a large saw mill 
at Orizava. Gen. Bee engaged exten- 
sively in the raising of cotton, as, also, 
did Captains Cundiff and Hodge. Gen. 
Hindman, having mastered the Spanish 
language in the short space of three 
mouths, commenced the practice of lavr 
in Cordova. Gen. Stevens, the chief en- 
gineer of Gen. Lee's staff, was made 
chief engineer of the Mexican Imperial 
Railway. Gov. Reynolds was appointed 
superintendent of two short line railroads 
running out from the city. Gen. Shelby 
and Maj. jMcMurty, with headquarters at 
Cordova, became large freight contract- 
ors, and established a line of wagons 
from Paso del Macho to the capital. 
Ex-Gov. Allen, of Louisiana, assisted by 
the Emperor, founded the Mexican 
Times, a paper printed in English, and 
devoted to the interests of colonization. 
Generals Lyon, of Kentucky, and Mc- 
Causland, of Virginia, were appointed 
government surveyors. Gen. Watkins 
was taken into the diplomatic service, 
and sent to Washington on a special 
mission. Everywhere the Americans 
were honored and promoted, but the 
army, to any considerable number of 
them, was as a sealed book. Where they 
could have done the most good they 
were forbidden to enter. 

To the superficial observer the condi- 
tion of affairs in Mexico in the latter 
part of the year 1865 seemed most favor- 
able, indeed, to the ultimate and suc- 
cessful establishment of the empire. 
The French troops occupied the entire, 
country. M. Langlais, one of Napo- 
leon's most favored ministers, ha<l 
charge of the finances. Under his expe- 
rienced hands order was rapidly lifting 
itself above the waves of chaos. The 
churoh party, always jealous and 
suspicious, still yielded a 

kind of sullen and ungracious 
allegiance. Maximilian was a devout 



9S 



SHELBYS EXPEDITION T0 MEXICO 



Catholic, and his Empress was a de- 
votee in all spiritual matters, but 
theirs was the enlightened Catholicism 
of Europe, which preferred to march 
with events and to develope instead of 
attempting- to thwart and retard the 
inevi table advance of destiny. Thej^ de- 
sii'ed to throw oft the superstition of a 
century of ignorace and degradation, 
and let a Hood of lisht pour itself over 
the nation. An impoverished people 
had not only moitgaged their lands to 
the clergy but their labor as well. The 
revenues were divided equally between 
the Bishops and the commandantes of 
the districts. Among the Indians the 
influence of the monks was supreme. 
In their hands at any hour was peace or 
war. They began by asserting their 
right to control the Emperor, they ended 
in undisguised and open revolt. Desir- 
ing above all things the confidence and 
support of the church, Maximilian found 
himself suddenly in an unfortunate and 
embarrassing posi tion. He was between 
two tires as it were, either of which was 
most formidable, and ia avoiding the 
one he only made the accuracy of the 
other all the more deadly. Without the 
levenue derived from the sequestrated 
lands the church had owned in enormous 
(luantities, he could not for a month 
have paid the expenses oE his govern- 
ment. Had he believed a restoration 
advisable he would have found it simply 
impossible. The Arch-Bishop was inex- 
orable. Excommunication was threat- 
ened. For weeks and weeks there were 
conferences and attempted compromises. 
Bazaine, never very punctual m his re- 
ligious duties, and over apt to cut knots 
that he could not untie, had always the 
same ultimatum. 

"Our necesities are great," he would 
say, "and we must have money. You 
do not cultivate yoar lands, and will not 
sell them, you are opposed to railroads, 
to emigration, to public improvements, 
to education, to a new life of any kind 
form or fashion, and we must advance 
somehow and build up as we go. Not a 
foot shall be returned while a French 
« jldier can shoot a chassapot." 



The blunt logic of the soldier bruised 
while it wounded. Maximilian, more 
conservative, tried entreaties and ex- 
postulations, but with the same effect. 
A breach had been opened up which 
was to increase in width and distrac- 
tion until the whole fabric fell in ruins. 
When in his direst extiemity, the Em- 
peror Vt'as abandoned by the party 
which of all others had the most to lose 
and expiate by his overthrow. 



CHAPTER XX. 
The Empress Charlotte was a woman 
who had been twice crowned — once with 
a crown of gold, earthly and perishable, 
and once with a crown of beauty as ra- 
diant as the morning. When she arriv- 
ed in Mexico, this beauty, then in its 
youthful splendor, dazzled all behold- 
ers. Her dark auburn hair was heavy, 
long and silken. Her eyes were of that 
lustrous browu Avhich were blue and 
dreamy at times, and at times full of a 
clear, penetrating light that revealed a 
thought almost before the thought was 
uttered. Her face was oval, although 
the forehead a little high and project- 
ing, was united at the temples by those 
fine curves whicli give so much delicacy 
and expression to the soul of women. 
Her mouth was large and firm, and her 
teeth were of the most perfect white- 
ness. About the lower face there were 
those lines of firmness which told of 
unbending will and great moral force 
and decision of character. Beneath the 
dignity of the Queen, however, she car- 
ried the ardor and the joy fulness of a 
school-girl. Her nose was aquiline, the 
nostrils open and slightly projecting, rt- 
cording, as if upon a page, the emotions 
of her heart, and the dauntless courage 
which filled her whole being. At times 
her beautiful face viiore an expression 
impossible to describe — an expression 
made up of smiles, divinations, ques- 
tionings, the extreme and blended love- 
liness of the ideal and the real — the 
calmness and gravity which became the 
Queen — the softness and pensiveness 
wliich bespoke the woman. 



AN UNWRITTEN' LEAF OF THE WAR. 



99 



The frallery that contcained the por- 
trait of Maximilian woukl be inconi- 
])lete without that of his devoted aud 
heroic wife. She was a descendant of 
Henry IV. of France, the hero of Ivry, 
a ruler nest in goodness and greatness 
to Louis IX., and the victim of tlie 
I'ana^ical assassin Rivaillac. Her father- 
was Leopold I., of Belgium, one of the 
Avisest and most enlightened monarohs 
of Europe. An Englishman by natural- 
ization, he married the Princess Char- 
lotte Augusta, daughter of George IV., 
tl)e 3nd of May, 1816. His English wife 
dying in childbirth, in 1817, Leopold 
again married in 1833, uniting Iiimselt 
witli Louise Maiia Tl.eresa Charlotte 
Isabella de Orleans, daughter of Louis 
Philippe, King of France, Of this mar- 
riage was tlie Empress Carlota born on 
tiie 7th of June, 1840, and who received 
at her christening the names of Maria 
Clharlotte Amelia Auguste Victoire 
Clementine Leopoldino. Her father 
was called the Nestor of Kings, and her 
mother the Holy Queen, such being her 
charity, her purity, and her religious de- 
votion. The first died in 1865, while the 
Empress was in Mexico, and the last in 
1850. At the time when she most need- 
ed the w'atchfulness and advice of a 
father, she was suddenly bereft of both 
his support and his protection. 

No monarch on earth ever had a more 
ambitious and devoted consort. The 
daughter of a king, and reared amid 
thrones and the intense personal loyalty 
of European subjects, she l)elieved an 
Empire might be established in the west 
greater than any ever founded, after 
long years of battle and state-craft, and 
she entered upon the struggle with all 
the impassioned ardor of her singularly 
hopeful and confiding nature. Herun- 
ri ^railed beauty won the enthusiasm of 
cities, aud her unostentatious and chris- 
tian charity erected for her a throne in 
t';ie hearts of the suffering and unfortu- 
nate. When the yellow fever was at its 
height in Vera Cruz, and when all who 
weie wealthy and well-to-do had lied to 
the higher and healthier uplands, she 
journeyed almost alone to t]ie stvickeu 



I seaport, visited the hospitals, ministered 
i unto the plague-stricken, ordered physi- 
cians from the fleet, encouraged the 
timid, inspired the brave, paid for 
masses for the dead, and came away 
wan and weary, but safe and heaven- 
guarded. The fever touched not even 
the hem of her garments. Fate, that 
sent the east wind and the epidemic, 
may, like the stricken sufferers, have 
thought her angel. 

There v/as pestilence, and famine, and 
insurrection in Yucatan. The Indians 
there, naturally warlike and enter- 
prising, rose upon the government and 
cast otf its authority. Tiibes revolted 
and warred with one another. The 
French, holding the large towns, forti- 
fied and looked on in sullen apathy, sal- 
lying out at times to decimate a province 
or lay waste a farming district. In a 
few weeks the insurrection would be 
civil war. It was decreed in council 
that the Emperor's presence was needed 
in Yucatan. His affairs at home, how- 
ever, were not promising, and he tarried 
a little to arrange them better before 
leaving. Of a sudden the Empress be- 
sought leave to go in his stead. It was 
refused. She perseveied day after day 
and would not be denied. Inspired with 
more than a woman's faith, and heroic 
in all the grandeur of accepted sacrifice, 
she made the perilous journey, taking 
with her only an escort aud a confessor. 
Her arrival at Merida was like a corona- 
tion. All the state arose to do her 
homage. She went among the tribes 
and pacified thenj. She redressed their 
wrongs, brought back the rebellious 
leaders to a stiictallegiauce, cast herself 
into the midst of pestilence, opened th<^ 
churches, recalled the proscribed and 
scattered priests, aud came away again 
an angel. Unto the end the faith she 
founded in her husband's empire re- 
mained unshaken. After Queietero, Yu- 
catan relapsed into barbarism. 

The year 1865 was spent by the Eui- 
pereor aud Marshal Bazaiue in vigorous 
attempts to pacify the country and con- 
solidate its power. The Liberal cause 
seemed hopeless. Nowhere did Juarez 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico ; 



liold a sea port, an outlyinj? niiDe, afoot 
of giain-growiug tevritory, a ship, an 
arsenal, a field large enough to encamp 
jm army. Yet he held on. Thai slug- 
gish, tenacious, ferocious Indian na- 
ture of his was aroused at last, and 
while he starved he schemed. A sadden 
dnshof cavalry upon liis winter quar- 
ters at El Paso drove bim into the 
IJoited States. He went to San Antonio 
;i fugitive President without a dollar or 
;i regiment, and waited patiently until 
the force of the blow had spent itself. 
As the French retired he advanced. 
Scarcely had his adieu been forgotten 
in El Paso when his good day greeted 
it« good people again. Everywhere, also, 
were his guerrillas at w^ork. Ouce in 
a speech upon the annexation of 
San Domingo, Carl Schiaz exclaimed: 
"Beware of the tropics." And why "i 
Because the tropics breed guerrillas. 
Tliey do not die in war times. Malaria 
does not kill them. To eradicate them 
it is first necessary to find aud to cap- 
ture them. They can not be found and 
fought. All nature is in league with 
tliem— -the heat, the bread-fruit, the 
bananas, tire orange-groves, the zepotas, 
the mangos, the cocoa-nuts, the mon- 
keys. These last, sentinels through im- 
itation, chatter volubly at the pursuers 
and cry out in soldier fashion aud iu 
words of warning: "Qaieii viveP'' 
Wherever the Spanish blood is found 
there is found also an obstinacy of pur- 
pose impossible to subdue— a siugularly 
ferocious aud untamable resolution that 
dies only with anuiiiilation. It will 
never make peace, never cease from the 
trail, never let go its hold upon the 
roads, never spare a. captive, never yield 
a life to Biercy, never forgive the ruler 
who would rule asaChristain and make 
humanity the law of the land. 

All the following that Juarez had now 
was <me of guerillas. Porfino Diaz 
lived by his wits and l)i8 presiamos. 
Escobedo, constitutionally a coward 
aud nationally a robber, preyed aloue 
upon his friends. Try how they would, 
the French found him always a runaway 
or a thief. Negvete, witli six thousand 



blanketed ladwnes, abandoned a cap- 
tured train and fled as a stampeded 
bulialo herd before a battalion of Zou- 
aves. Lozado preserved in the moun- 
tains of Nayarifc an armed neutrality. 
Coroua, iu the delightful possession of 
his beautiful American wife, sat himself 
down in Sonora and waited for the tide 
to turn. For his country he never so 
much as lifted his hand. Cortina prayed 
to the good Lord and the good devil, 
and went alternately to mass and the 
monte bank. 

They all held on, however. An 
unorganized Conmuine, the goods 
of other peoi>le were their 
goods — the money of other people 
was their money. As long as the rains 
fell, the crops matured, and cattle kept 
clear of the murrain, and bread-fruit 
got ripe, and the maguey made mescal, 
they were safe from pestilence or fam- 
ine. The days with them meant so 
many belly fulls of tortillafi iXYXil frijolcH. 
With the French it was different. Ked 
tape has a dynasty of its own— a caste, 
a throne, an army of field and staff offi- 
cers. Each day represented so nsany 
rations, so many bottles of wine, so 
many ounces of tobacco, so many ci- 
gars, so much soup, and bread and 
meat. Failing in any of these, yqA tape 
stepped in with its money commutation 
in lieu of rations. Then for each deco- 
ration there was an annuity. Scnne 
Zouaves drew more pay than generals 
of brigade. The Malakoff medal so 
much, the liikeimauu medal so much, 
the Chinese Emperor's Palace medal so 
much, the Fort Constenfcine medal so 
much, the Magenta and Solferiuo med- 
als so much, the Pucbla medal so much, 
aud so much for all the rest of the med- 
als these many laurelled and magnifi- 
cent soldiers wore. Wlien they were 
paid ofi: they had monthly a saturna- 
lia. 

To make both ends mtet, Napoleon's 
great ti nance minister, Lauglais — loan- 
ed as an especial favor to iSfasimiiiau — 
did the work of a giant. One day he 
died. Apoplexy, that ally and avenger 
of the best-iibnsed brain, laid hands 



AN U'NWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAK. 



lOI 



(»ii liim betweeu the Palace of Chepnl- 
lepec and the office of the treasury. lu 
two hours he was dead. All that he had 
done died with him. Of his tinaucial 
fabric, reared after so uiaiiy nights of 
torture and troul>lc,theie was left s»;arce- 
ly enough of pillar or post to drape with 
iuournina: for the siuprle-miuded, siu- 
cere and gifted architect. In the 
dearth of specie the church was 
called upon. The church had no 
)iiouey, at least none for the de- 
spoiler of its revenues and the colonizer 
of its lands. Excommunication was 
again threatened, and ihxis over the 
thresidiold of the altar as well as the 
treasury ,there crept the appalling shad- 
ow of bankruptcy. 

Bazaine threatened— tlie Emperor 
j;;r;jyed— the Empress threvi' into the 
scale all her private fortune at lier cora- 
inaud. Outside the cabinet walls, how- 
ever, cTerything appeared fair. Brilliant 
reviews made the capital gorgeous and 
enchanting. There were operas, and 
Icles, and bull-tigi)ts, and great games 
of jiionte in the public square, and duels 
;it intervals, and oiae unbroken tide of 
i'rencii successes everywhere. Napoleon 
sent over in the supreme agony of the 
crisis two shi]) loads of speciCj-and there 
UHS a biief breathing time again. 
Meanwhile they would see, for when it 
is darkest it is Tlib nearest to the mor^- 
iug. 

Inez Walker, the lescued maiden of 
Encarnacion, was too beautiful to have 
been lightly forgotten. Free once more, 
and witi) the teixors ot that terrible 
night attack all gone from her eager 
eyes, slie liad continued with the Expe- 
diliou to the capital, courteously at- 
tended each day bv an escort of honor 
furnished as regularly as the guards 
were furnished. 

In the City of Mexico, at the time of 
hei' arrival, there was an American wo- 
man who liad married a Prussian prince, 
and who was known as tiie Princess 
Salm Salni. Once, when she was yotmg- 
er, she had ridden in a circus, several 
of them, and as Miss Agnes LeClerc 
v.-as noted for her accomplislied eques- 



trianism, lier magniticent physique, a 
beauty that was dark and over-bold, 
a devil-ma.y-care abandon which won 
well with tln)se who sat low by the foot- 
lights and felt the glamour of the 
whirling nmsic and the red flames that 
flashed on golden and gaudy trappings 
ot acrobat or actor. 

Miss Le Oleic had met the Prussian in 
Mobile after tiie Ameiican war was 
over. The Prince had been a Federal 
general of brigade whose reputation 
was none ot the best for soldierly deeds, 
although it is not recorded that he 
either shunned or shirked a fight. Still 
he was not what these parvenu Ameii- 
cans of ours thinji a prince should be— 
he did not clothe himself in silver, or 
gold, in pur))le or fine linen, and con- 
quer armies as Earey might have con- 
quered a horse. There were some sto- 
ries told, too, of unnecesary cruelty to 
prisoners whom the fortunes of Avar cast 
upon his hands helpless, but these did 
not follow him into Mexico with his 
American wife, who had married him 
in Mobile, and who had got this far on 
her way in search of a coronet. 

She was told the history of Inez 

Walker, and she.was a brave, sympatnet- 

[ ie, tender-hearted woman wholoved her 

I sex as all women do whom the world 

I looks upon as having already unsexed 

j themselves. They became fast friends 

speedily, and were much together at 

the opera and upon the, /lassco during 

those last brief yet brilliant days of the 

Empire. 

The Prmce Salm Salm was on duty 
with a brigade at Apam, in the moun- 
tains towards Tampico. Guerrillas had 
been at work there lately, a little more 
Sixvage than usual, and Bazaine sent for- 
ward Salm Salm to shoot such as he 
could lay bauds upon and disperse those 
that could not be caught. He acted 
with but little of energy, and with 
scarcely anything of ambition. He was 
recalled finally, but not until his wife 
had been grossly insulted and a Con- 
federate had avenged her. 

One day, in a cafe, several groups of 
Belgian officers were at the tables sip- 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



pinff tlieir wine, aad jesting and talking 
ol: much that was bad and useless. At 
otlier places tliere were Austrians and 
Frencb, and a few Spaniards, who eveij 
then were beginning lo avoid the for- 
eigners, and a single American who 
w^as sitting alone and at his leisure. 
_,,; Dr. Hazel was a yonng physician 
* fiom South Carolina, wlso had gone 
through the siege ot Siimpter with a 
devotion and a constancy that had 
found their way into general orders, 
and that had returned in the shape of 
a rain more precious to a soldier than 
sunlight to flowers— the rain of official 
recognition. In addition to the com- 
pliments received he was promoted. 
.is he sipped liis claret, several ladies 
entered, some attended and some unat- 
tended. French custom makes a cafe 
;is cosmopolitan as the street. All sexes 
congregate there, and all stratas of so- 
ciety ; custom simply insists that the 
common laws of society shall be obeyed 
—that those of the demi-monde shall not 
advertise their x>i-ofessiou, that the 
\, gambler shall not display his cards, 
the guerrilla uncoil his lasso, the grand 
dame exhibit her prudery, the detective 
his insincerity, and the priest hisprotests 
and his confessional. Appetite admits 
of no divided sovereignty, and hence, 
at meal time, the French recognize only 
one class in society, that of the super- 
latively hungry. 

The Princess Saliu Salm returned the 
salutation of several French officers as 
she entered, and bowed once or twice in 
acknowledged of salutes rendered by 
the Austrians of her husband's brigade. 
Beyond these she seemed to prefer ia- 
solation and privacy. Among the Bel- 
gians there was a Major who had a huge 
yellow beard, a great coarse voice, a 
depth of chest like an ox, a sword-belt 
whose extent would girth a hogshead. 
In French cafes, gentlemen very 
rarely speak above the low conversa- 
tional tone of the drawing room. To be 
boisterous is to be either drank or a 
blackguard. This Belgian, Major Med- 
omark of the Foreign Legion, did not 
seem to be drunk, and yet as he looked 



at the Princess Salm Salm, his voice 
would change its intonation and deepen 
harshly and gratingly. If he meant to 
be oftensive he succeeded iirst rate. 

The Princess pushed back her plate 
and arose as one who felt that she was 
the subject of conversation without 
understanding the words of it. As slie 
passed through the door, Medomaric 
boisterously and in great glee, called 
out a slang teina of the circus, and 
shouted : 

" Boop !«.'" 

The Agnes Le Clerc that was of tSie 
sawdust and tights, the Princess Sain. 
Salm that is now of the titles and dia- 
monds, heard the brutal cry and felt to 
her heart the studied insult. Turning 
instantly, she came again half into the 
cafe — her e.yes full and discolored wilh 
passion, and her face so white that it 
appeared as if the woman was in mortal 
pain. She could not speak — though she 
tried hard, poor thing, but she looked 
once at Medamark as if to crusli him 
where he sat, and once to Hazel, who 
understood it all now, and arose as she 
again retired. 

He went straight to his American 
countrywoman. Ax the cowardly in- 
ference of the Belgian the French offi- 
cers had laughed and the Austrians had 
applauded. Even those of her lius- 
band's own brigade had not uttered pro- 
test or demanded apology. Hazel found 
her in teai's. 

"You. have been insulted,'' he said. "I 
know it, or rather, I may say I saw it. 
Not understanding German, if, indeed, 
the Belgians speak German, I have to 
rely for my opinion more upon the man- 
ner than the matter of the insult. Your 
husband is away, you are an American . 
lady, you are a countrywoman of mine, 
you are in trouble and you need a pro- 
tector. Will you trust your honor in 
my hands?" 

This actress was a brave, proud vn o- 
maii, born, perhaps, to rule men as much 
by the force of her will as the bizarre 
style of her beauty and her physical de- 
velopment. She took Hazel's hand and 
thnnk-ed him, and bade him chastise the 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



103 



iusoleat bully. She knew very well what 
chastisement meant in the law g'li age of 
a soldier, and she Avas a soldiei^s wife. 
She never referred to the future, how- 
ever. She did not even evince interest 
enough to be curious. Perhaps her pas- 
sion kept her from this — at least her 
obampion bowed low to her as he en- 
tered, thiukiug ber the coldest woman 
a man ever put hiv^ life in jeopardy for. 
Cold she was not. She simply consid- 
ered what was done for her as being 
done because of her inaliciiable right to 
liave it done. She was not familiar, she 
ouiy tolerated. 

Hazel, in stature, was very slight. As 
he stood up before Medomark the huge 
Belgian glowered upon him as Goliah of 
Gath might have done upon David. 

"' Do you speak EugiisliT'' he asked of 
the Major. 

" A little." 

"Enough to understand the truth 
when I tell it to you^ " 

"Perhaps, if it is not so plain that for 
the telling 1 will have to brealc every 
bone in your body." 

Medomark's voice was one of that 
uncontrollable kind that run away with 
a subject in spite of itself. He meant 
to be quiet so as not to attract atten- 
tion, but he was so rude that many of 
the spectators quit eating to look on. 

"That lady," Hazel continued, "who 
has just gone out is a country-woman of 
mine. She may have been an actress just 
as you may have b6eu a hangman's son, 
but whatever she has been she is a wo- 
man. We do not insult women in the 
country where I once lived, nor do we 
permit it to be done elsewhere. Will 
you apologize to herf 

"I will not." 

"Will you acce])t this card and let me 
send a friend to you f 

"I will with pleasure." 

"Then I wish you good day, gentle- 
men," and Hazel bowed to all as he 
went out like a man who had just fin- 
ished his dinner. 

Medomark was l)rave —besides, he 
wasanoSicer. There weie, therefore, 
bu: t\v - fuarses left to huu— but two 



things to do— to accept Hazel's cartel or 
to refuse it. In preference to disgrace 
he chose the duello. ITa":pl found his 
second sp(;edily.. He, too, was a sol- 
dier—one of Shelby's best, James Wood 
— who would go to any extreme on eartli 
for a friend. 

When two men mean business, the 
final arrangements are simply matteis 
of form. On the morning after Medo- 
mark's insult in the eafe, Wood called 
upon him early. During the day the. 
preliminaries were all amicably agreed 
upon, and at sunrise the next morning, 
about a quarter of a mile south-east of 
the American burying groixnd. Hazel and 
Medomark met at ten paces with duel- 
ing pistols. Tlie Belgian's second was 
a young French Lieutenant named Mas- 
sac, who won both the position and the 
word. When the men took their places. 
Hazel had the sun in his eyes, and this 
annoyed him at first, for it was very 
hot and penetrating. They fired twice; 
at each other. The first time both miss- 
ed — the second time Hazel struck Medo- 
mark upon the outside point of the 
right shoulder, injuring the bone great- 
ly and severing an artery that bled as if 
the man would bleed to death. Prompt 
and efficient surgical skill, however, 
saved his life. The duel ended after 
the second fire, the Princess Salm Salir, 
so splendidly vindicated at the 
hands of her young countryman, Avas 
the toast thereafter of the officers of the 
garrison. The Prince on his return 
could not render thanks enough, nor 
seek to show his appreciation of the 
chivalrous act by too many evidences ot 
a more substantial gratitude. The city 
being under martial law, a court-martial 
was soon convened for the trial of all 
who were engaged in the duel. A sen- 
tence, however, was never reached. 
Upon, the request of Bazaine, the court 
was dismissed and 'the prisoners set at 
liberty. Medomark recovered fully only 
to be desperately Avounded again at 
j Queretero, where, after long and devoted 
I attention on the part of Dr. Hazel, a 
1 surgeon in the Republican army, he 
' was restored to both health and liberty. 



I04 



Shelby's expedition to mexico ; 



From this little episode a, friendship 
sprung up which has remained unbroken 
to this day, 

Tlie colony at Carlota grew apace and 
was prosperous. The men began to 
cultivate coftee and sugar, and from a 
jungle the plantations soon bloomed 
and blossomed like another Paradise. 
As an especial favor from Maximilian, 
Slielby was permitted to pre-empt the 
hacienda of Santa Anna, not a hacienda, 
liovv'ever, that had belonged to this 
prince and chief of conspirators, but 
one that had been named for hira. 
Spaniards once owned it, but in the 
massacres of the revolution all had per- 
islied. About the ruins of the fortress 
which still abounded, there were signs 
Nvhich told of the fury of the onslaught 
and the scorching of the flames that fol- 
lowed when the rapine and the ravish- 
ments were done. Situated two miles 
from Cordova, and in the very purple 
heart of the tropics, it might have been 
made at once into a farm and a flower- 
garden. Twelve acres were put in cof- 
fee, and coffee Avell cultivated and per- 
mitted to a row in a land were there is 
law and protection, pays to the raiser a 
minimum price per acre of fifteen hun- 
dred dollar -i. It seems, however, that na - 
tnre is never perfectin the equilibrium of 
her gifts. There, where the soil is so 
deep, the air so soft, the climate so de- 
licious, the trade winds so cool and de- 
lightful, the men alone are idle, and 
come in the night to the plantations of 
the foreigners to break down their cof- 
fee trees, poison their spring water, 
wound their dumb stock, and damage 
everything that can be damaged and 
that comes in their way. 

In the mountains in tlie rear of Shel- 
by's plantation a robber baud rendez- 
voHzed. Its chief, Don Manuel llodri- 
guez, was a daring leader, who descend- 
ed to the plains at intervals with a 
reckless following, and made headway 
for hours at a time in his work of 
gathering up supplies and levying 
prestamos. In a month after Shelby's 
arrival a friendly relationship was es- 
tablished, and thereafter, until the end. 



Rodriguez 'protected Santa Anna, and 
lived at peace with all who were settled 
round about. Just how the negotiations 
were commenced and consummated 
which led to a truce so satisfactory and 
so necessary, none ever knew, but 
true it is that in the cool of the even- 
ings, and when the French drains had 
beaten tattoo at the fort only half a 
mile away, Rodriguez w^ould come down 
from his fastnesses as a peaceful visitor, 
and sit for hours among the Ameiicaiis. 
asking of the Yankee country, and the 
lips and the downs of the Yankee w'ar, 
for to a Mexican everything is Yankee 
which is American. 

Ex-Governor Isham G. Harris, of Ten- 
nessee, also a settler, might have been 
designated the Alcalde of Carlota. The 
Confederates looked upon him with a 
kind of reverence. By the side of 
Albert Sidney Johnston when he got 
his death-wound, he had taken him in 
his arms and held him there until the 
mist came into his sad, prophetic eyes, 
and until the brave, fond heart, broken 
by his country's ingratitude, and the 
clamor of despicable and cowardlj- 
politicians, had ceased to beat. Brown - 
low especially wanted Harris, and so 
Harris had come to Mexico. He knew 
Brownlow well — a bitter, unrelenting, 
merciless fanatic, and a fanatic, too, 
wlio had come in on the crest of the 
;v ive that liad drowned the cause for 
vliich Harris fought. He believed that 
if the old Pagan failed to find a law tor 
his capital punishme'it, he would suc- 
ceed, certainly through the influence of 
gold and i)olitical ]>ower over an assas- 
sin. Unwilling at all events to risk the 
tyrant, he found penniless asylum at 
Cordova, poor only in pocket, however, 
and courageous and proud to the last. 
He was a cool, silent, contemplative 
man, witli a iieavy lower jaw, projecting 
forehead, and iron gray hair. lu his 
principles he was an Ironside of the 
Cromwelliau type. Perhaps the intense 
faith of Iris devotion gave to liis charac- 
ter a touch of fat^xlism, for when the 
ship stranded he was cast adrift utterly 
wrecked ia everything but bis undying 



AN UNWRITTEN I.EAF OK THE WAR. 



eoufidence in tbe success of the Coiit'ed- 
eracy. He believed ia Providence as 
M! ally, and ic^iected constantly tlie idea 
/jixt Providence takes very little hand 
I wars that come, about between fanii- 
:es or >States— if, indeed, ia wars of any 
Kind. With his jjreat energy, his calai 
ciMuage, his shrewd, pratical intercourse 
Vv ith the natives, his record as a g'ov- 
crnor and a soldier, he exerted iiniuense 
influence for good with the soldier-set- 
tlers and added much to the strength 
.uid stability of the colony. 

Col. Perkins, of Louisiana, a Judge 
of great fame and ability, and a 
lawyer as rich in triumphs at the bar as 
he was possessed of slaves and cotton- 
bales upon his plantation, abandoned 
everything at liome but his honor and 
isolated himself among his coftee-trees 
;)jid bananas. When the Avar closed he 
took a weelc to speak his farewells and 
'.>arn his dwelling-house, his cotton 
iuesses, his stables, barns, ont-houses, 
and to make iu fact of his vast posses- 
sions a desert. He had a residence rich 
in everytliing that could amuse, instruct, 
delight, gratify. Painting, statuary, 
dowers, curiosities, rare plants, elegant 
ol)jects of vertu and art were there in 
ubuudauce, and when from the war he 
returned crushed in spirit and broken 
in iiealth, he rested one night brooding 
amid all the luxury and magnificence of 
his home. He arose the next morning a 
stoic. With a torch in his hand he fired 
-verything that would burn, leaving 
'nowhere one stone upon another to tell 
of what had once been the habitation of 
elegance and refinement. In his Mexi- 
can solitude "he was aa aristocratic 
plnlosopher, complaining of nothing ami 
luoki'ig bacic with regret upon nothing. 
Sufficient unto the da.y for him had been 
the evil thereof. 

Gen. P!f-erli"o- Price was another set- 
tler. Many of ills escort company had; 
taken lantls around him. The natpfi^'f^'h 
. liief iu a, new country, he sat much in 
ihe shade about his tent, telling the 
atones of the Avar and hoping iu his 
heart for the tide of persecution and 
proscription iu Missouri to run itself 

11 A 



out. Politics was as necessaiy to his 
mental equilibrium assleej) to his physi 
cal. i)i llie old days lie had succeed( d 
well. Katuie gave him a fine voice, 
a portly frame, a com manding front, a 
graceful and dignified carriage, an 
aplomb that never descended into ner- 
vousness, and hence, as the Speaker of 
a legislative body he was unexci'lled. 
He dreamed of a 8])eakership again, of 
a governorship, of a senatorship, and 
he, therefofe, cultivated more corn than 
he did coffee, for it takes tliree yea is 
for coffee to grow and bear, and thre« 
years might— well, he did not choose t(» 
put himself into the hands of thre« 
years and wait. 

It would at least be curious, if it wei e 
not interesting, to go in among these 
colonists iu Carlota and learn their his- 
tories while displaying the individualit.s 
of each, A commcu misfortune honinl 
theai all together in the strength of a 
recognized and yet unwritten covenant. 
The pressure of circumstances from 
without kept them indissolubly united. 
Poverty, that dangerous drug wliicli 
stimulates when it does not stupefy, 
lost its narcotism over men whom Avai 
had chastised and discipline made 
strong and reflective. They strove foi 
but one purpose— to get a home and 
occupy it. 

The privateer Shenandoah— tliat mys- 
terious cruiser Avhich was seen rarely at 
sea, yet which left upon the waves of 
the South Pacific a monstrous trail ol 
fire and smoke— sent her officers into 
the colony Avith their ship monej' and 
tlieir cosmopolitan hardiliood. Lieuten- 
ants Chew and Scales took valuable 
land and Avent enthusiastically to worlc. 
Ai-onnd the hacienda of Santa Anna 
there was a cordon of strange pumeers 
Avho had histories Avritten in characteis 
impossible to decipher. The luerogiy- 
phics were their scars, 
'" And so afftiirs prospered about Car- 
lota* and the long, sunshiny days Avent 
on, iu Avhich the trade Avinds blew and 
the orange blossoms scented all the air. 
It was near three days long journey to 
the capital, l)ut rumors traA'el fast when 



io6 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



every ear is listeniug for tbem, and a 
report deepened all along the route 
from Mesico to Vera Cruz ttat a staff 
officer of tlie French Emperor had left 
Paris for the headquarters of Marshal 
Bazaine. A multitude of reasons were 
assigned for the visit. Napoleon might 
desire, for the purposes of information, 
the direct observations of one who was 
intimately acquainted with his views 
and intentions. It might be, again, 
with a view to increasing the forces of 
the expedition, or to the employment of 
moi'e active and rigorous measures in 
tlie pacification of the country. Accord- 
ingly, as men were hopeful or depress- 
ed, they reasoned concerning this visit 
of the French staff officer, even before 
the officer himself was half across the 
Atlantic. 

From first to last, the treasury of 
Masirailiaa had been comparatively 
empty. He curtailed his own personal 
expenses, abandoned the civil list, lived 
like a pLdn and frugal farmer, set 
everywhere an example of retrench- 
ment aad economy, but it availed 
nothing. Mexico, with all of her im- 
mense miaeral resources, is, and has 
been, usually poverty-stricken. There 
is no agriculture, and, consequently, no 
middle class. At one extreme is im- 
mense wealth, at the other immense 
misery. Ignorance and superstition do 
the rest. 

His exertions to pay his soldiers and 
carry forward a few vitally necessary 
internal improvements, were gigantic. 
Pending the arrival of the French envoy 
extraordinary, he had negotiated a loan 
at home, which was taken by patriotism 
—a strange word for a Mexican— and 
which had already begun to flovf iuto 
his empty coffers. 

Things, therefore, were not so dark as 
they had haen when Gen. Castelnau, 
personal aide-de-camp of the Emperor 
Napoleon, arrived at Vera Cruz. 

Gen. Castelnau kept his own secret 
well, which was also the secret of his 
master, Napoleon III. A magnificent 
review was held in the city of Mexico at 



which he was present. Soldiers of all 
arms were there, and a great outpouring 
of the people. Everything looked like 
war, nothing like evacuation, and yet 
Gen. Castelnau brought with him defin- 
ite and final orders for the absolute and 
unconditional v/ithdrawalof the French 
troops. 

The Empress penetrated the purpose 
of his mission Mrst and again came for- 
ward to demand a last supreme effort in 
behalf of the totteiitig throne. She 
would go to Europe and appeal to its 
chivalry. The -daughter of a king, it 
would be to monarchs to whom she 
would address herself face to face. She 
was youug, and beautiful, and pleading 
for her crown, and why would not ar- 
mies arise at her bidding and. march 
either to avenge or rein state her ? Poor, 
heroic woman, she tried as never woman 
tried before to stem the tide of fate, but 
fate was against her. First the heart 
and then the head, until with hope, 
faith, ambition, reason all gone, she 
staggered out froim the presence of Nap- 
oleon dead in all things bat a love that 
even yet comes to her fitfully in the 
night time as dreams come, bringing 
images of the trees about the Alameda, 
of the palace where she dwelt, of Mira- 
mar and Maximilian. 

In the summer of 1866 she sailed for 
Europe. She knew Castelnau's mission 
and she determined to thwart it. There 
was yellow fever at Vera Cruz and pes- 
tilence on the ocean. Some of her at- 
tendants were stricken down by her side 
and died at Cordova— others oo board the 
ship that carried her from port. She 
bore up wonderfully while the mind 
held out. Nothing affrighted her. The 
escort marching in the rear of her car- 
riage was attacked by guerrillas. She 
alighted from it, bade a soldier dis- 
mount, got upon the back of Ms horse 
and galloped into the fight. Here was an 
Amazon of the 19th centuiy who had ' 
a waist like a willow wand, who paint- 
ed rare pictures, who had a husband 
whom she adored, wlio sang the ballads 
of her own exquisite making, who was 
struggling lor a kingdom and a crown,, 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



107 



ami who had never in all lier life seen 
a drop ot: blood or a man die. 

The fight was simply a guerrilla fight, 
however, and from an Amazon the wo- 
man was transformed into an Empress 
again— tender, considerate, desperate in 
the wild emergency npon her, and joy- 
ous with the fierce eagerness of her 
longings and her despair. 

Never any more in life did the blue 
eyes of her husband and her lover gaze 
ux)on that fair Norman face, almost 
colorless now and set as a flint in the 
stormy sunset of the night when she 
sailed away to her destiny. 

Bazaiue took his time to obey his 
orders— indeed, he had margin enough 
aud leisure enough to contract his lines 
pleasantly. Not always over-bold in 
retreat, the French had yet learned well 
the nature of Mexican warfare and 
would turn sometimes viciously when 
galled to wincing on flank or rear, and 
deal a few parting blows that unto this 
day are recalled with shudderings or 
impotent vows of vengeance. 

One at Matamoras is worth a mention. 
The Sixty-Second of the Line did gar- 
rison duty there under Col. Lascolat. 
He was to Dupin wd)at the needle-gun 
is to the smoothe-hore. Dupin destroy- 
ed singly, at short range, in ambush- 
meuts, by lonesome roads, iu sudden 
and unmerciful hours— from the depths 
of isolation and the unknown. Lasco- 
lat, an Algerian of&cer of singular 
ferocity, hunted in regiments. Even 
the physique of his mec was angular, 
rakish, undulatory like the movements 
of a greyhound. They would march 
thirty miles a day fighting, bivouac nuy- 
where, sleep if they could— very well, if 
they could not, still very well. With 
them was a priest who wore five medals 
he had won in battle. When he had 
time he shrived all alike. In his hands 
the cross was good enough for the dy- 
ing who spoke Spanish aud the dying 
who spoke French. In the presence of 
the. spectre he took no thought of na- 
tionality. 

As Lascolat came out from Matamor- 
as, a portion of Escobedo's forces pres- 



sed him inconveniently. His orders 
from Bazaiue were to take his time, 
fight only when forced, be dignified, 
patient and discreet, but to make sure 
of his egress out witli everything that 
belonged to him or his. Lascolat had 
under him two battalions of one thous- 
and men each. The third biittalion 
composing the regiment of the Sixty 
Second had already been send foiward 
to Jeanningros at Monterey. Escobedo 
attacked with five tliousand. He knew 
of Lascolat's ferocity— of his terrible 
doings about and along the Rio Grande, 
and he meant to take a farewell, the 
memories of which would last eveu un- 
to Algeria again. 

One afternoon late the line of Lasco- 
lafs march led through a ravine which 
commenced broad like the mouth of a 
funnel, aud tapered down to a point, as 
a funnel would taoer. Near the outlet 
Escobedo fortified the road with loose 
boulders. Behind these, arsd upon the 
sides of the acclivities on either side, he 
placed his men in ambush. He had no 
artillery, for he so shaped the fight as 
to make it face to face aud deadly. 
Lascolat entered into the trap listlessly. 
If he knew what had been prepared for 
him he made no sign. Suddenly the 
loose, disjointed, impassive wall outlin- 
ed itself. Some sharp skirmishing shots 
came from the front. The shadows of 
the twilight had begiju to gather. It 
looked ugly and ominous where the 
stones were. 

Lascolat called a halt, and rode back 
along the ranks of his men. They were 
weary, and they had seated themselves 
upon the ground to rest. His presence 
fired them as a torch passing across a 
line of ready gas-lights. He spoke to 
them pleasantly in his Algerian ver- 
nacular : 

" The Arabs are ahead. We are hun- 
gry, we are tired ; we want to go 
into camp; we have no time to make a 
flank movement. Shall we make quick 
work of the job, that we may get some 
supi)er and some sleep^" 

The men answered him with a shout. 
The charge commenced. It was a hurri- 



loS 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



caue. The bimicade of rocks was not 
even so mucli as a fring-e of bulrushes. 
Those who held it died there. The hill 
sloy)es, eovered with prickly pear and 
dagger-trees, hid a massacre. The 
Sixty Second swarmed to the attack like 
bees about a hive in danger. Para- 
lyzed, routed, decimated, torn as a tem- 
pest tears, Escobedo's forces fired but 
one fair volley, and fled as shadows flee 
when the wind pursues. The dead were 
never counted. Lascolat's farewell was 
taken, but those who came out well 
fioui the hand-shaking slackened march 
not a step until the rout had passed into 
Matamoras, and over a,gaiust a river 
thaii might be crossed for the wading. 
Thereafter the Sixty Second foraged as 
it pleased, and took its own time toward 
the coast. 

Col. Deprueil was m danger— Shelby's 
old antagonist of Parras — and it re- 
mained for Shelby to save him. In tlie 
marchings and counter marchings of the 
evacuation, Depreuil, commanding sis 
hundred men of the Foreign Legion, 
was holding a post twenty leagues 
northwest of San Ijuis Potosi. Douay, 
with inadequate cavalry, "was keeping 
fast Jiold upon tlfis most important 
strategical point, awaitiogthe detach- 
ments from the extreme north. Shelby 
was a freighter now, and had come from 
the City of Mexico with a strong guard 
of Americans, and eighty wagons Jaden 
with supplies for the French. After re- 
porting to Douay lie was sent forward 
with twenty men and ten wagons to 
Cesnola,the outlying post gariisooed by 
Depreuil. The guerrillas, emboldened 
by the absence ^rf cavalry, had risen up 
some two thousand strong, and were be- 
tween. San Luis and Cesnola. As Shelby 
marched on into the oyjen country his 
advance, under James Kirtley, was fired 
upon, and two soldiers — James Ward 
and Sandy Jones — severely wounded. 
He countermarched to an abandoned 
liacienda, encamped his wagons within 
rbe walls, fortified as best he could, and 
sent Kirtley back with two men to re- 
p:n-t the condition of attairs to G-eneral 
Douay. Kirtley was not well mounted' 



lie had served awhile in the Thud 
Zouaves, the hostile Mexicans were 
swarming aboat all the roads, it looked 
like death to go on, it certainly was 
death to be taken, and so he started 
when tlie night fell, having with him 
two comrades, tried and true, Cleorge 
Hall and Thomas Boswell. 

It was thirty good miles to San Louis 
Potosi, and those who waylaid the roads 
had eyes that saw in the night and were 
not baffled. 

Capt. 7ames Kirtley, burnt alnu)st 
brown by exposure, and by four long 
years of stniggie with the wind and the 
sun, had the face of a Mexican and tlie 
heart of an English liiucer who rode 
down to the guns witii Cardigan and 
the Light Brigade. Peiii affected his 
spirits as wine might. A^mbition and 
adventure with him were twin mistress- 
es — blonde to his eyes, beautiful, full <»f 
all passionate love, lit to be worshipped, 
and they were ' worshipped. Always 
bravCi he had need to be always gener- 
ous. Danger, when it does not deter, 
sometimes gives to those wJio fear it 
least a certain kind of pensiveness that 
is often mistaken for iuuitterence. When 
aroused, however, this kiod of a pensive 
man rides harder and faster, liglits 
longer and more desperately, will hold 
on and hang on under greater stresvS, 
reach out his life in Ids open hand often- 
er, and die, if so the fates desire, witii 
less of murmur and regret than a regi- 
ment of great roystering soldiers whosse 
voices are heard in songs in the night 
with the mighty roll -and volume of the 
wind among the pines. 

Kirtley, even under the tawny })aint 
the sun had put upon his face, would 
blush like a girl when, to some noted 
deed of soldierly daring, public atten- 
tion directed the eyes of appreciation . 
Praise only made him more reticent arid 
retired. As he never talked of himself, 
one could not hear aught of his valorous 
deeds from his own lips, for these were 
a part of himself. To compliment hiin 
was to give him pain — to flatter was to 
oftend; and yet this young hero, not 
yet a man, surrounded by all things that 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



109 



weie hostile, even to tlie lauguaere, 
known to have been a soldier iu the 
Third Zouaves, the terror of tiie E upire, 
l)a(lly mounted for pursuit or escape, 
( aiiie with a ^mile upon his face for the 
l)erilous venture, a,ud ro.le away and 
into the niirht and the unknown, in 
(fuest of succor for Deprenil and his be- 
lea£;-ured g-ariisou. 

It was a long thirty miles he had to 
go, the three men, Kirtley, Hall and 
Boswell. On every side theie were 
guerrillas. The Bight was dark, al- 
though the road was plain, for it was 
the great national highway which ran 
troni Monterey to the Capital. The 
ilanger, howevei', came from the fact 
that it was too plain. Others knew of 
it, and rode along it, and crouched in 
ambushment upon it, and made it a 
torment for small parties l)y day as well 
as by night. 

Kirtley, even in the darkness, advanc- 
ed in skirmishing order. First, he of 
tiie three went alone in advance; behind 
him was Hall, and in the rear of Hall, 
Boswell. Between each was the dixS- 
tanoe of twenty yards. It was ne- 
cessary to get word through to Douay, 
and Kirtley argued the less risk taken 
tiie. greater chance (jliere would be for 
I'ne of the pirty getting through. 

"We must keep apart," he said, "just 
tar enough to succor each other, but luit 
too close to be killed by the discharge 
of a shot-gun, as out of a flock of par- 
tridges one might IviU a bag-full." 

The ride was a silent and gn'nily tc- 
uncious one. Three times they turned 
from the high road to avoid a scouting 
party of guerrillas, and once, iu going- 
past a little group of four or five huts 
by the \^ ayside— a place, indeed, where 
niescul is sold, and where, upon aU the 
road?! iu Mexico, huts are concentrated 
for this purpose alone— Kirtley, who 
had kept his position tixedly in front the 
whole night through, was fired upon 
from an' angle of a house. The bullet 
missed his left thigh barely, and imbed- 
ded itself in the flank of his poor, tired 
horse that had borne himself staunchly 
through it all. One diop of blood was 



more really than the weai-y animal 
could afford to give up, but this wound 
bled freely, and the horse staggered as 
he went, It was yet three leagues to 
San Luis Potosi, and the night had 
txirned. By dint of much coaxing and 
walking to relievo him, Kirtley manag- 
ed to get over some further gronml 
slowly. He felt for his horse, as all cav- 
alry soldiers do, and from the wound to 
his abandonment he never struck him 
once with the spur, though it might be 
tl)at his life hung upcm the gait the 
horse went, wejik and crippled as it 
was. The wound was deeper than any 
one of t!ie three thought, aud so, when 
near the bottom of an abrupt descent, 
the gallant stetd lurched forward sud- 
denly, caught as it were by his fore feet, 
reeled blindly, aud fell forward, too 
helpless to arise again, too far gone for 
leeclj or surgeon-craft. 

Kirtley murmured not. Looking once 
nt his faithful companion, as if in infiu- 
ite pity, lie strode on under the stars on 
foot, keeping' his place still in the ad- 
vance, aud keeping his pensive face fix- 
ed in the iron mould of its energy arid 
determination. 

It was daylight when the three danjit- 
less scouts reached the French outposts 
at San Luis Potosi — tired, safe, prouri 
of the perils passed, ready to return at 
a word aud to carry back the succor 
She b}^ so much needed at this 
time hia-jself, and the succor 
Depreuil had needed, without knowing 
it, for a week. 

Douay gave to the three soldiers a 
soldier's welcome. His old gray head, 
inclined a little forward, heard all the 
report through that Shelby had sent, and 
it was brief enough even for him who 
dealt mostly in gestures or monosylla- 
bles. 

"You hnve ridden all niglit,'" lie said, 
"and you need food, sleep, brandy, 
horses. Captain." 

An aide came. 

" Your pordon one moment. Gene- 
ral," said Kirtley, " while I correct 
you. We do not need any sleep. As 
we return we can sleep as we ride. 



no 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico 



Tliat was otice part of our drill. 
We left our General in danger, and 
be ia turn sent us forward to notify 
you of the danger of your Colonel. We 
will take the food, tlie brandy and tbe 
horses, Init the sleep, no, Greneial, with 
many thanks." 

Douay's keen brown eyes opened wide 
;it tliis frank and ingenuous speech. It 
pleased him more than he cared to say — 
more than he a.draitted then. After- 
wards when a soldier led up a maguifi- 
eeut Arab stallion to the meson where 
Kirtley was eating and presented it to 
liim in the name of Douay, the young 
American felt in his heart the gratitied 
ptide of one wliose perils and frankness 
had meiited recognition at the hands of 
him who had fought in the four quarters 
of the world, and who had grown up 
from childhood to old age a hero be- 
loved by the army and revered by a 
Dfition. 

Before the sun rose three squadrons of 
Chasseurs, a section of flying artillery, 
and the three Americans thrown for- 
ward as guides, were galloping back to- 
wards the hacienda at which Shelby was 
fortified and fighting. Each American 
iiad been supplied with a splendid horse 
by Douay, and although they had ridden 
ten leagues the night before, they press- 
ed on indifferent to fatigue and imperv- 
ious to the demands of sleep. 

It was time. Shelby, of his 
whole force of twenty men, had 
only fifteen left. Two had been wound- 
ed, and three had been sent back to San 
Luis Potosi for succor. Of the wagons 
he had formed a corral. Between the 
wheels and in front and rear he had 
piled up sand -bags. Among the freight 
destined for Dnpreuil's outpost were 
several hundred sacks of corn. These 
were emptied, filled again with sanrt 
and laid two deei) all about the wagons. 
No musket ball could penetrate them, 
and the guerrillas had no artillery. 

A summons came to him for surren- 
der. 

Shelby parleyed all he could. He 
dreaded a charge where, from sheer mo- 
mentum, five hundred sheep might 



overrun, and, perhaps, crush fifteen 
men. A renegade priest named Ramon 
Gruitieirez, having the name of a blood- 
thirsty priest and the fame of a cowardly 
one, too, commanded the besiegers. Be- 
fore Shelby would talk of surrender he 
wanted to see some show of force. His 
honor did not permit a capitulation 
without his reason was convinced that 
to resist would be madness. In otlier 
words, he wanted on his side the logic 
and the reasonableness of war. 

Guitierrez took a look at the sand- 
bags, and thought Shelby's propositions 
very fair. He took another and a closer 
look, having in his vision this time the 
gleaming of fifteen rifle barrels and the 
rising and falling of rough, hairy faces 
abov^e the parapets of the hastily con- 
structed fort, and he concluded to accept 
it. To be very certain of passing in re- 
view all the men he had, he marched 
about in various directions and in the 
most conspicuous places for several 
hours — precious hours they were, too, 
and worth a week of ordinnry time to 
those who never meant to surrender, but 
who expected to fight desperately, 
maybe unavailingly, before the friendly 
succor came. 

When the parade was over Guitierrez 
sent word to ask if Shelby would surren- 
der. 

No, he would not. He had counted 
some five hundred ill}" armed ranc'heros, 
and he meant to fight them to the death. 
Filing at long range commenced. The 
Americans did not reply to it. The sun 
was too hot for the kind of work that 
did not pay in corpses. Emboldened by 
this silence, the Mexicans crept closer 
and closer. Here and there a bullet 
found its way into the fort. Volley an- 
swered volley now, and then the noise 
died out into calm, cold, cautious sku- 
mishing. Shelby had mouutedtwodark-i 
looking logs at either angle of the cor- 
ral, and these, from a distance, looked 
like cannon. It might not be best to 
charge them, and so Guitierrez crept 
backwards and forwards until the day 
wore well on its way. Suddenly he 
' gathered together his followers and 



AN UKWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



III 



made a little speech to them. It was 
about four o'clock m the afteruoon. 
Both Ward and Jones, who bad been 
wounded the day before, had insisted on 
holding an embrasure between them. 
They bad strength enough to load and 
fire their breech-loaders, and they were 
not refused. Every bullet counted in 
the desperate melee. 

With a shiill, short yell the Mexicans 
dashed forward to the attack. Had the 
wave held on its course it would have 
inundated the earthwork. It broke, 
however, before it reached half way 
across the open space behind which it 
had gathered for the onset, Tho.^e in 
front began to tire too soon, and those 
in the rear, not seeing from the smoke 
what was really in front, fired, too, and 
without aim or object. With unloaded 
guns they dared not go on— the fii'e of 
the Americans was distressing beyond 
endurance— the wave liroke itself into 
fragments— and the sun sunk lower and 
lower. 

"•Nearly out of the wilderness, boys,' 
Shelby said, as his wary and experienced 
eryes took iu the outline of the spent 
charge as it made itself cleai- agaiust the 
range of hills in rear of it. 

"We need water greatly," Kas Woods 
ejaculated, his mouth parched and his 
face black with powder-smoke. 

"In an hour yon sliall drink your tiil," 
replied Shelby , "for in an hour the French 
will be here." 

"But if Kirtley has fallen." 

"He will not fall. Luck goes with 
him everywhere. What's that f ' 

He pointed as lie spoke to a. sudden 
agitation and fluttering among the 
masses of tlie besiegers, who were now 
galloping fiuiously to and fro, utterly 
without a head and heedlessof all threat 
or command. 

"Ah !" and Shelby's face cleared up all 
at once, as he turned to Woods, "you 
can go out for water now, the fight is 
over." 

Before he had finished, the full, ring- 
ing notes of the French bugles were 
heard, and in a moment more the squad- 
roons emerged from lite trees, galloping 



straight and in beautiful order towards 
the guerrillas. 

Tliere was no combat after the 
French appeared. What killing was 
done was done solely upon those who 
were too slow in the race, and who 
could not reach the rocks in time that 
rose up on three sides as a series of 
walls that had once been laid 
with much syinmetr.y and had fallen 
in rugged yet regular masses in 
some great convulsiou or upheaval of 
nature. Nowhere in fair fight was a 
Mexican cut down, nor at no single time 
did even a squad rally among the rocks 
and fire back upon the pursuing cavalr> . 
The panic at last degenerated into n 
stampede, while the impeuetrablr 
groves of cactus shrubs and the broken 
and uninhabitable couSitiy swallowed 
up the fugitives. The chase soon ended 
and tlie French returned. • 

These two rescuing squadrons were 
led by. Captain Mesillou, whose orders 
were very full and explicit. He was 
first to cut Shelby out from the hostile 
forces which surrounded him, and next 
to report to Shelby and march whither 
soever Shelby directed. 

The French rarely put faith in for 
eign otiicers. Their vanity^ — a kind of 
national inheritance— recognized no 
merit like French merit— no supeiiorit>- 
iu war, politics, diplomncy, love or re- 
ligion like French superiority. Hence, 
where Frenchmen are concerned, they 
invariably insist that Frenchmen shall 
alone be responsible. In this instance, 
however, Douay wrote this manner of a 
note to Shelby : 

"To complete the conquest of Colon;-! 
Depreuil, of whose bearing to wai'ds you 
at Parras I have been duly infoimed by 
Gen. Jeanuingros, I choose that he shall 
owe his life to you. Capt. Mesillou 
awaits \ our orders. 1 need not advise 
you to be circumspect, and to tell you to 
take your own time and wny to reach Ces- 
nola and bring my Frenchmen back to 
me, for whom, I imagine, there is no 
great love in the hearts of its inhabit- 
ants." 

Mesillou reported, and Shelby put 



112 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



liimself at the head of the Cuirassiers. 

"Siuce Depruil has to come out from 
Cesnoia^," Shelby remarked to the young 
Freoch Captaiu, "and since G-en. Douay 
expects us to make haste and briug him 
out, these is no need to take our wagons 
t'urtlier. Guitierrez has Iteen too badly 
Irightened to return here mucli under a 
month, and beyond bis forces I can hear 
of no others in the mountaios round 
about. We will let tiie wagons, there- 
fore, remain where they are, for- 
age arul rest here until the 
night falls, and then—strengthened 
and refreshed — cut through, ride down 
or ride round everything that opposes 
us. So make these resolutions known, 
Captain." 

The Frenchman bowed and retired. 
He saw in a nw.raent that the sohliei" 
who was talking to him knew more of 
the wfirfare ahead in a. moment than 
he had ever seen in his life. He knew, 
furthermore, tliat if the worst come to 
the worst, it would not he the fault of 
the comma,nder it' Deprenil was not 
lescued. 

The night came and the column start- 
ed. Between the road where the wagons 
were left and Cesnola, the entire coun- 
try was alive with guerrillas. Bevond 
Cesnola, there were no Isnperial trooDs 
of any kind, and between Cesnola and 
S an Luis Potosi there was ueittjer gar- 
risoned toAvn nor fortified viUage. It 
was a stretch of ambush sixty miles 
long. 

When the night came Shelby put him - 
at the head of his detachment and 
never drew rein until Cesnola was 
reached. The column was ambushed 
seven separate and distinct times and 
tired upon from hedges-rows, from be- 
hind houses in viliages thiough which 
it passed, and from a variety of phices 
that were inaccessible to the sudden 
dash of cavalry. Twenty-eight French 
soklicrs were killed and wounded. 
Twice the Captain solicited the privilege 
of making a charge upon the nuseen 
enemy crouching by the roadside, a.ud 
tv\'ice he was refused. 
"You lay too much to lieart these 



mosquito bites," Shelby said to 
him kindly, "when there is dan- 
ger of centipedes and tar;intulas 
before we are done with it. A man is 
bound to fall out here and there, hard 
hit and may be killed, buc the balance 
wall be enough to get through. When 
one gets surrounded as Deprueil has 
done, one must expect to pay the pen- 
alty of the rescue. Sometimes it is ex- 
tremely costly, but the night favors us 
and there is no moon. Keep with your 
men, Captain, encourage them, expose 
yourself freely in front of them, talk to 
them calmly, and my Avord for it you 
shall reatih Cesnola with fewer deple- 
tions in your ranks than if yon charged 
into the unknown every time a musket 
volley came from it." 

Deprenil did not know of his danger. 
The succoiring party appeared to him as 
an apparition. Well fortified at Ces- 
nola, and having at his command no 
cavalry with which to ascertain what 
existed beyond the range of his cannon, 
he eat, and slept and drank absinthe 
with the same nonchalance his life in 
Parras manifested. Safe for the day, he 
took no thought of the morrow. He was 
one of those officers wlio believed that 
one French battalion was stronger than 
destiny — more powerful than fate. 

Meoillou awoke his reveiie rudely. 
When there had been explained to hinj 
all the rislv Shelby had lun in getting 
cavalry to him, how he had fought, and 
marched, and phmned, and endured 
solel}^ for his sake and for the sake of 
humanit3^, Depreuii's heart softened 
quickly. He came to Shelby as one who 
felt that he had a gi eat debt of grati- 
tude to repay, and took his hands in 
both of his. 

''Never mind the past," he com- 
menced, "nor the rude things said aud 
done in Parras. I see it all now. Per- 
haps I owe my life to you — certainly the 
liv^es of many of my soldiers, for whom 
I am responsible. In future let us re- 
member each other only as brave men 
and soldiers. I, too, like Captain Mes- 
illon, put myself under your ordeis. 
When shall we evacuate Cesnola f' 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



Shelby had his revenue at last— that 
kind of revenge which is always sweet 
to noble minds— the revenge of return- 
ing good for evil. He answered him : 

" Would you take your heavy cannon 
with you V 

"I don't know. Would you ?" 

"In. my military life I never left a tro- 
phy in the hands of my enemies. Were 
I a Frenchman I would surely cany oft* 
my French guns." 

"Then in a day we can march." 

"Let it be so, but make haste, Colonel. 
This country breeds guerrillas as the 
marshes do miasma." 

Still leading, Shelby came away from 
Cesnola in command of the whole 
French force. Depreuil's men won- 
dered a little, but Depreuil, in the 
height of his gratitude, thought no com- 
pliment sufficiently high to pay the 
rough-clad, quiet American fighter, who 
did not even so much as have a red sash 
around him as insignia of rank or 
autliority. 

Fighting commenced almost as soon 
as the evacuation of Cesnola took place. 
Heading always the Americans and C uir- 
assiers in person, however, Shelby was 
enabled by several sudden and bloody 
repulses to put such a wholesome fear 
of punishment in the minds of the pur- 
suers that they gave him ample time to 
carve out for the train a safe road in 
front while protecting amply the peri- 
lous road in the rear. 

For three days and nights he held on 
his course, fightiog constantly and ear- 
ing alike for his dead and his wounded. 
The morning of the fourth day brought 
him to the French lines of San Luis Po- 
tosi and to an ovation. Gen. Douay 
turned out the whole garrison under 
arms, and, as the detachment which had 
been doing garrison duty at Cesnola 
marched in— worn by much fighting — 
weary from long marching — dusty and 
faint, yet safe and victorious— it was 
saluted with sloping standards, presented 
arms, and the long, exultant roll of tri- 
umphant music. 

In the evening Douay called upon 
Shelby. 

15A 



"I have come to reward you," he saiti, 
in his usual bluff and sententious man- 
ner, "and would be glad to know your 
price." ,^ 

"Your iriendship, simply," was the 
reply of the proud American. 

"That you already have," the good old 
General continued, "but you are poor, 
you are an exile, you can have no refuge 
more in this country when it is known 
that you rescued a French garrison, you 
have been turned aside from your busi- 
ness as freighter, and I demand the 
privilege of paying you at least for your 
time, and for your losses in mules and* 
wagons." 

"Very well, General," Shelby replied , 
"but as you are leaving the country you 
must wait until we meet again in the 
City of Mexico. Until then remember 
your promise." 



CHAPTER XXL 

In the short space of time accorded to 
him between the reception of the orders 
brought for the withdrawal of tlie 
French troops and their actual accom- 
plishment, Maximilian did the work of 
one who meant to fight a good fight for 
his kingdom and his cause. And yec 
for the great superstructure he tried so 
hard to rear and decorate, the poor man 
had never considered a moment about 
its foundation. He had no standing 
army— nothing to rely upon when the 
French left that was real and tangible- 
nothing that was frank and manly, and 
that would take him boldly by the hand 
and say : "Sire, we are here ; trust us a 
you would yourself." 

V/hen that sudden dash of cavalry, 
which drove Juare?: across the Rio 
Grande and into Texas, had spent itself, 
and when it was believed that there 
was no longer in the land either a regu- 
larly armed or regularly organized force 
of Liberal soldiers, the celebrated black 
flag order was promulgated. This law 
— based upon the declaration that Ju- 
arez had left the country, and that eon 
sequently there could be no longer in 
existence any regularly constituted gov- 



H4 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



ernmeBt— required all Mexicans cap- 
tured with arms in tiieir hands after the 
date, of the decree— October 3d, 1865— 
to be summarily put to death. Maxi- 
milian resisted its i)ass-^,i?e to the last, 
but Bazaine was inexorable. He ap- 
peared before the Council of State and 
declared upon his ofiiciai honor that Ju- 
arez had left the territory of Mexico. 
He complained of the leniency shown 
to tiie guerrilkis, and cited numerous in- 
stances to prove how French soldiers, 
captured on detached service had been 
« first tortured and then most brutally 
• murdered, while those Mexican prison- 
ers tried under the ordinary forms of a 
court-martial, had either been punished 
lightly or suffered to escape altogether. 
Bazaine triumphed, as he always did 
when brought in contact with the soft, 
pliable nature of tlie Emperor, and al- 
most immediately after the decree 
was issued, there was enacted under 
it a fearful obedience. General Men- 
dez, one of the few Mexicans really 
and sincerely devoted to Maximilian, 
was holding the enemy in awe ia the 
State of Morelia. Of a sudden he turn- 
ed upon a guerrilla force, routed it, cap- 
tured well on to a hundred, shot them 
all, and proclaimed in triumphant lan- 
guage that such should be the fate of all 
who came within reach of his hands. 
Among the slain were General Arteaga 
and Colonel Salasa. Arteaga was what 
was rare in Mexico, a genuine humorist. 
Corpulent, fair though born in the trop- 
ics, fond of laughter and wine, in no 
wise cruel or vindictive, a soldier from 
necessity rather than inclination, a 
judge whose decisions were always in 
favor of the guilty, it did seem a siu to 
shoot the great, harmless, laughing 
gourmand who told his jokes much 
oftener than his beads, and had a wliole 
regiment of friends in the very ranks of 
the French army itself. Other execu- 
tions took place in other portions of the 
Empire, and when the Emperor found 
that he could no longer resist the tide of 
blood that had set in, he quarreled with 
Bazaine. The Marshal was firm, how 
ever, and the Emperor fled to Cuernav- 



aca. This was a small town forty miles 
southwest from the City of Mexico. It 
had the deliciously blended climate of 
the tropical and the temperate latitudes. 
It was summer in the day and autumn in 
the night-time. Maximilian had a re- 
treat here, and thither he would go 
when State cares pressed too heavily 
from without and little spites and piti- 
ful envies and jealousies from within. 
He had a house there and a garden, and 
among his books and his flowers he held 
loving converse with the past and the 
present — the great who had passed away 
from earth and the beautiful which still 
remained. From these communions and 
reveries he would return a more patient 
and a more gentle man. 

The shooting went on, however, and 
Mendez and Miramou obeyed the decree 
with a persistence characteristic solely 
of the Spanish blood. 

As the French lines contracted, the 
skeleton regiments and brigades of 
Juarez were fully recruited. In many 
places those Mexican troops who 
were in the service of the Em- 
pire were turned upon and 
and beaten. At other times they ran 
without a fight, throwing away their 
arms and disbanding in hopeless and 
helpless confusion. Nowhere in the 
whole Imperial army was there an or- 
ganization worth its uniform save and 
alone those few Austrians and Hun- 
garians personally devoted to the Em- 
peror and calmly resolved to die. If at 
anytime Shelby's conversation ever re- 
curred to him, he made no sign. He saw 
probably, and felt more keenly than 
any one thei e the need of the American 
corps Shelby could and would have re- 
cruited for the asking, but even in the 
death hour, and in front of the ruined 
wall at Queretero, he died as he had 
lived — a martyr to his belief in the sin- 
cerity of Mexican professions. 

Of a sudden, and at one merciless 
blow, Sonora was wrenched from the 
crrasp of the Empire. The French had 
already abandoned it, but an Austrian 
devoted to the Empire, Gen, Landberg, 
held it for his Majesty, The forces 



AN UNAVRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



II' 



Tinder his coramand were composed al- 
most exclusively of Mexicans. Some 
few comDanies of these had American 
officers. One in particular was com- 
manded by a young Confederate, Capt. 
W. M. Burwell, who was from the Val- 
ley of Virj;inia, and who had won liigh 
honor in Pelham's memorable artillery. 
He was only twenty, and had a face 
like a school girl. Tall, gentle in aspect 
and manner, witti deep blue eyes and 
raven hair that curled and shone, he 
came into the Empire a boy adventurer, 
seeking fame and service in a foreign 
land. The Princess Iturbide, when the 
Valley of Virginia was a Paradise, had 
visited at his father's house and had 
looked in admiration into the blue eyes 
of the beautiful boy. This boy, not yet 
a man, and the smoke of Virginia bat- 
tle-fields not yet gone from his long 
black hair, came to the country of the 
Princess and to her palace by the Ale- 
meda. When he came out from her 
presence he was a Captain. He put on 
bis uniform and came among his com- 
rades in those few brief days, before the 
marching, a young Adonis— lithe, su- 
perb, a little Norman in feature, having 
red in his cheeks and dark in his hair. 

All day had the battle ebbed 
and flowed about the'port.of Guaymas. A 
swart, tierce southern sun, coming in red 
from the ocean, got hotter and hotter, 
and by high noon it was blistering in 
among the foot hills that held the thin 
handful of Laudberg's dissolving army. 
Beautiful on the crest of the darkening 
conflict stood the young Virginian, no 
air brave enough anywhere to blow out 
the curls of his clustering hair, no succor 
anywhere near enough to save the 
flushed cheeks from the gray and the 
pallor of the death that was near. Land- 
berg fell in the thick of the fight, cheer- 
ing on his men who had fought well for 
Mexicans, but who had fought for all 
that as men wlio had no hope. A 
Frenchman, Col. De Marsang, rode to 
the front. The army was falling to 
pieces. On watch in the port of 
Guaymas two French frigates had been 
waiting since the sunrise. There stood 



safety and refuge for the shivered rem- 
nants when once well extricated from 
the coil that Landberg had failed to 
break, but how get tlirough. De Mar- 
sang spoke to Burwell, saluting: 

"Will your men charge"?" 

"It may be. Colonel. Your orders." 

"Yonder is a battery on a hill," point- 
ing as he spoke to foursixteen-pounders 
massed upon an eminance that com- 
manded the only read of retreat to 
Guaymas, "and it is scant of supporters. 
Silence it for a brief naif hour and what 
is left of Landberg's loyal followers 
shall be saved." 

Burwell drew his sworu. He spoke t'> 
his men very gently. He put himself at 
their head. There was a sudden rush of 
some fifty or sixty desperate soldiers— a 
mass of blue and flame and dust and 
faiy—the great roar of the guns broke 
huais'^ and loud above the shrill, tierce 
cheer of the men, and the road was 
clear. 

They brought him back from th^ rout 
of the canuoniers with a film on the blue 
eyes and white in the pallid cheeks. He 
spoke not neither did lie make moan. 
To-day in Guaymas there are yet those 
who cross themselves and tell witb 
bated breath about the charge of the 
mvy bonitfi Americano. 

Sonora was thus lost to Maximilian, 
and all the coast hordeiiug upon the 
Pacific. In the north, department after 
departement was abandoned by the 
French, and at Matamoras, after a 
bloody siege and a desperate combat at 
the end, Mejia— an Indian of pure blood 
and truer and braver than all the multi- 
tude of Castilian flatterers who blessed 
the Emperor and fled from him when 
the darkness came— cut his way out 
from environment and fell back wearily 
and hard bestead towards Monterey. 
In the passage out through the lines of 
Escobedo's army, an American squadron 
died nearly to a man. It had been re- 
cruited upon the Rio Grande, and was 
composed equally of those who had 
served in either the Federal or Confed- 
erate army. Its Captain, Hardcastle, 
was one of Hooker's best scouts : one 



ii6 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



Lieutenant, Inj^e, had made himself a 
name witli Mosby; anolber, Sarsfield, 
an Irisbman from Memphis, had killed 
a comrade in a duel in Georgia, and had 
fled as it wore from a spectre which pur- 
sued him; seven of the privates had but 
an arm apiece; all had seen long and 
desperate seivice — all were soldiers who 
seemed to have no home and no coiin- 
try. 

Children of the war, what a life histo- 
ly many of them had. It is related of 
the little baud that, tlie ni^ht before 
Mejia began the work that had need to 
be ended speedily, they exchanged with 
one another the secret of each heart. 
Sorrows had come to the most:. o£ thera, 
and memories that were too sad for re- 
pining, too bitter for tenderness or tears. 
A boy was there not yet twenty. He had 
been a soldier under Lee and bad loved 
a woman older and wiser than himself. 
One day he told her all and she laughed in 
his beardless face a laugh that went 
deeper than any word of cold contempt 
or stern refusal. He was too young, she 
said. He knew she meant too poor. 
The morning after the interview, while 
it was yet dusky and dim in the East, a 
firm, set face was turned fair to the 
South, and James Eandolph had left his 
native land forever. Among the fore- 
most in the charge, and when the force 
of the squadron had spent itself, he was 
taken up dead from among the feet of 
the horses, happier than he Iiad been, 
perhaps,siuce the parting months agone. 

One was there because a life of p^-ace 
had become intolerable. Hardcastle, a 
born soldier, fought for the love of the 
strife; Inge to better his fortune; Sars- 
field to exorcise a memory that made 
Ills sensitive life a burden; a few for 
greed and gain; not any one for hatred 
or revenge. 

Mejia loved his Americans, and had 
done a general's part by them. None 
rode finer horses — none displayed more 
servicable arms. What thej^ had to do 
they did, so terribly that none ever rose 
np to question the act. On guard, they 
were never surprised; on their honor, 
they never betrayed; on duty they never 



knew an hour of rest; on the foray, they 
kept a rank no stress had ever yet des- 
troyed, and in the fight, when others 
halted or went forward, as those who 
grope, these— grim, silent, impassible as 
fate — rode straight on. liesisted, very 
well. Overpowered, stiii very well. Cut 
to pieces — that might be. Having 
shaken hands with life, what meant a 
few days more or less to all who saw the 
end approaching. 

Escobedo had surrounded Matamoras 
with about 25,000 troops— not good 
troops, however, but hard to dislodge 
from the fortifications in which they 
had encased themselves. To get out, 
Mejia had to cut his way through. I'he 
American squadron went first. There 
was a heavy fog that had blown in from 
the Grult: on the morning of the venture 
—so heavy, indeed, that the first files 
could not see the third files, nor the 
third the fifth, nor the Captain his Lieu- 
tenants in their places behind him. 

No matter ; a squadron like this did 
not need the sunlight in which to die. 

It took an hour of furious work to 
open the only road between Mejia and 
Monterej' — between a massacre as fero- 
cious as the nature of the bandit, Esco- 
bedo, and the succor of Jeanningxos' 
Zouaves marching twenty leagues iu 
twenty hours to the rescue. Out of 
seventy-two— rank and file — only eleven 
escaped free and scatheless. Afterwards, 
in relating the story of the escape. 
Gen. Mejia remarked seatentiously 
to Gov. Eeynolds : 

"To maintain an Empire it is neces- 
sary only for a score of regiments, such 
as the squadron that charged at my com- 
mand nine separate times, losing always 
and always closing up." 

To-day it is doubtful if any man 

knows where even one of the heroes 

lies buried, nor aught of his inner life, 

nor anything of why or how he died. 

"So much the leaden dice of war 

iJo make or mar of character." 

In the height of the tide of evacuation, 
Maximilian turned his eyes ouce more 
iu the direction of the Colonists. A 
French Baron, Sauvage by name, and an 



AX UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



117 



Englishman in finaoco and education, 
obtained from tlie Emperor a grant of; 
land as large about as the State of Del- 
aware. Jfc was rare and valuable land. 
It grew Indian-rubber trees and ma- 
hogony trees. It was ia the tropics.and 
it was fertile beyond all comparison. 
The Tuspau river ran through the 
grant diagonally from northwest to 
southeast. It had a seaport— Tampico 
— where the largest vessels might lido 
at anchor, and where only in the unnsu- 
aliy sickly years did the yellow fever 
come at all. 

Several tribes oC Indians inhabited 
tliis sccfiou of the Empire— mostly igno- 
rant and unknown Indians— yet suppos- 
ed to be friendly and well-disposed. 
At least the death of no white man had 
been laid at the door oi: any of the 
tribes, probably from the fact that no 
white man had ever been among them. 

Sauvage dreaded Indians because he 
had never dealt with them. He was a 
cultivated and elegant gentleman. He 
loved to linger long at dinner and late 
over the wine, to take his ease in his 
own way and to protect his person. He 
wanted a partner who — used to peril and 
privation— would not object to the life 
of a pioneer. Shelby was recommended. 
Freighting was no longer pleasant or 
profitable. Concentrated now princi- 
pally in the cities the French did not at- 
tempt to patrol the 'roads nor to afitbrd 
protection to those who lived away from 
the garrisoned towns and who needed 
protection. As a consequence, Shelby 
and his partner, Major McMurty, dis- 
posed of such stock as was left to them 
after the rigors of the lainy season jind 
cast about for other work neither so dif- 
ficult nor so uncertain. 

Shelby met Sauvage, and when the 
interview was over a scheme of coloni- 
zation was formed which needed only 
time to have added to the empire a bul- 
wark that might have proved impregna- 
ble. Surveyors under the charge of 
Major R. J. Lawrence, once a resident of 
Kansas City, were dispatched immedi- 
ately to the granted lands. A railroad 
from Tampico to Vera Cruz was pro- 



jected and a subsidy at the rate of twen- 
ty thousand dollars per mile pledged by 
the Emperor. With Shelby to plan was 
to execute. Two hundred men were 
employed before the ink of the alliance 
between himself and Sauvage was 
scarcely dry. Taking passaere in a rick- 
etty schooner to Havana, Shelby bought 
a seaworthy sail boat there and loaded 
the boat at once with American plows, 
harrows, railroad tools of all kinds, and 
staple provisions enough for a summer's 
campaign. At the same time he also 
flooded Texas and Arkansas with his 
circulars setting forth the advantages 
of the Tuspan country, its immense re- 
sources, the benefits a colonist might re- 
ceive from a location there, and giving 
also the nature and quality of the soil, 
its products, and the average price per 
acre under the Imperial decree confirm- 
ing the grant. The circular soon begot 
an interest that was intense. Twenty 
families in a neighbor would unite and 
send an agent forward to investigate 
the prospects of the colony. Meanwhile 
the railroad was commenced. From 
Havana Shelby went to Vera Cruz 
where he purchased another schooner 
belonging to the French fleet of obser- 
vation in the harbor. Bazaine was in 
the city when he arrived in port. He 
went straight up to his hotel and spoke 
to him thus: 

"Marshal, we have taken upon our 
hands much work. We Jiave 
farming implements of all kinds, but 
we have no guns. Give us arms and 
ammunition. Your army of occupation 
has recently been supplied with Chasse- 
pots, and it is not yourintention to take 
your old muskets back to France. Some 
you will sell, some you will destroy, and 
some you will give away. Give me, 
therefore, five hundred of your most 
serviceable, and ball cartridges enough 
for a six month's siege, and when you 
hear of our colony again you will hear 
of a place as promising as the scheme of 
your Emperor in Africa." 

Bazaine listened to this frank volubil- 
ity as one does to something he has but 
rarely heard in his life, smiled, shrugged 



iiS 



SHELBY' S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



his shoulders, but <?ave the order just the 
same. Before the sun set, Shelby was 
sailing out from the harbor and past the 
dark battlements of San Juan d'Ulloa, 
the owner of half a thousand elegant 
liuns, a great store of ammunition, and 
a faith in the future that amounted with 
him to an inspiration. 

The Americans flocked to him from 
every direction. His name and his fame 
seemed a talisman. As fast as they ar- 
rived he armed them, and it was well 
that he did so. A tribe of Indians, the 
Tolucas, owning lands directly on the 
northern boundary of the grant, grew 
jealous of a sudden at the growing 
colony, and sought to exterminate it. 
There were bad Mexicans among them 
who did the scheming and the plotting, 
and one rainy night a foray of eleven 
hundred dashed down upon the out- 
T>osts. Shelby was with his surveying 
party at the time — a little detachment 
scarcely thirty strong. These fortified 
themselves behind a breastwork of logs, 
and fought until the settlement could 
be aroused. When the reinforcements 
were all up, Shelby massed them com- 
pactly together, and dashed down upon 
the invaders. They fought badiy, and 
soon broke and fled. For thirty long 
and weary miles he followed them 
through swamj) and chaDparal, over ra- 
vines and rivers, by day and by night, 
killing what came to hira — sparing, 
naught that fell in his way. Weary, the 
men declared tlie work done well 
enough. He ordered them forward 
■fiercely. 

"What," he cried out, ''is the neces- 
Bity of doing to-morrow, or the next 
day, what could be so well done to-day. 
The colony is young, it is hated, it has 
been in perpetual ambush ; it must have 
over it a mantle of blood. Forward, 
and spare not." 

The blow dealt the Tolucas was a 
terrible one, but it was necessary. 
Thereafter they traded ia peace with 
the whites, and maintained the alliance 
unbroken until the colony itself was de- 
stroyed, and the Americans driven out 
from all part or lot in the country. 



Through no fault of any American 
there, however, the colony did not live. 
Shelby did the work of a giant. He was 
alcalde,magistrate,patriarch, contractor, 
surveyor, physician, interpreter, soldier, 
lawgiver, mediator, benefactor, auto- 
crat, everything. All things that were 
possible were accomplished. Settlers 
came in and bad lands given them. The 
schooners were loaded with tropica! 
fruits and sent to New Orleans. When 
they returned they were filled with em- 
igrants. The railroad took unto itself 
length and breadth and crept slowly 
through morass and jungle toward Vera 
Cruz. Disease also decimated. The rank 
forests, the tropical sun, the hardships 
and exposures of the new and laborious 
life told heavily against the men, and 
many whom the bullet had spared, the 
fever finished. The living, however, 
took the place of the dead, and the work 
went on. 

One day news came that the French 
garrison at Correzetla had marched at 
sunset for the capital. Of all the good 
five hundred foot and horse not even so 
much as a saber or asabretash remained 
to hold the mountain line between the 
guerrillas of the South and the little 
handful of pioneers hewing away iu the 
wilderness of mahogony, toiling by day 
and standing guard by night. It could 
not be far to the end. A sudden irrup- 
tion of robbers, quite two thousand 
strong, poured through the gaps in the 
broken and higher country, and drove 
rapidly in all the outlying posts along 
tbe frontier. If any settler there, tarry- 
ing late to save from the wreck what- 
ever was valuable or dear to him, fell 
into their hands, it was a rope, a 
dog's death, and a grave that hid in it 
neither coffin nor shroud. Death to the 
Gringo came on every breeze that swept 
to the sea. 

Shelby knew that the beginning of the 
end was at hand, and that he had great 
need to bring back from the overthrow 
all that was worth a stroke for rescue. 
He met this last danger as he had met 
all others, with arms in his hand. He 
massed once more his movable CDlumns 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



119 



and fought as he fell back in front of 
his sick and his helpless, dealluj? such 
blows as became one who felt tbat the 
sun had been turned away from bim, 
and that thereafter it would be neither 
a cloudless sky nor a peaceful twilight. 

The citizens rose in the town of Tani- 
pico when it was known that the French 
had retired, and seized upon the 
schooners at anchor oft the bar. Some 
among their crew made battle and died 
in vain and in discbarge of a duty tbat 
had neither country nor cause to remem- 
ber and reward it. When the vessels 
were burned their corpses were thrown 
headlong into the sea. Nothing sur- 
vived the inundation. The fields were 
all laid waste the habitations were all 
pillaged and ttestroyed, what remained 
of the farming implements were broken 
to pieces, the luxuriant growth of the 
tropics sprang up in a night as it were, 
and hid the work of the devoted colo- 
nists. There was a moment of savage 
exultation over the wreck and the 
ruin of the beautiful valley and 
to-day all the magniticent laud watered 
by the Tuspan river lies out under 
the sun, a waste place and a wilderness. 
Worn by long marching and fighting, 
the survivors found refuge at last in 
Cordova, homeless, penniless, and stran- 
gers in a strange laud. 

And death came, too, to one among 
the exiles who had cast in his lot in their 
midst as a Christian hero, and who had 
fought the fight the hero always fights. 
Henry Watkins Allen, ex-Governor of 
Louisiana, and a general of brigade in 
the Confederate army, was carried up 
from the lowlands of the Gulf to aie. 
Shattered by wounds, and broken in 
health and fortune, he bore so bravely 
up that none knew, not even those who 
knew him best, how weak was the poor 
tried frame, and how clearly outlined to 
his own vision was the invisible angel of 
the sombre wings. 

Selected by the Emperor to publish a 
newspaper in the English language and 
in the interests of the Empire and col- 
onization, he had founded the Mexican 
Times,axid had Inboi-od faithfuUvfor the 



stability of the government and the de- 
velopment of its mineral resources. Sin 
gularly gentle and lovable for one so ' 
desperately brave, ho gave his whole 
time to tlie labors of his position, and 
toiled faithfully on in the work taken 
upon his bauds to do. The Americans 
looked upon him as an adviser and 
friend, Marshal Bazaine counseled with 
him and bestowed upon bim his confi- 
dence, and Maximilian trusted bim as he 
would a household officer or aide. His 
cbaiitles were uuostentatious and mani- 
fold. Ho delighted in giving bis scanty 
means, and in keeping from his left 
hand what his right hand contributed. 
He wrote boldly and to the point. In the 
arRiy his record had been one of extra- 
ordinary daring in a corps where all 
had been brave. Badly wounded at 
Shiloh, he kept his saddle until the bat- 
tle was over, and led his troops the long 
day through, as though impervious to 
human weakness or physical pain. La- 
ter, at Baton Eouge, under B reckon - 
ridge, he had made a charge upon a bat- 
tery the fame of which filled the West. 
The guns were taken in the teirific con- 
test, but Allen was lifted up from among 
his horse's feet, maimed, inert, speech- 
less, almost dead. Three bullets from 
a canister shot had penetrated both leg:>. 
shattered the bones of one of them, and 
wounded him so desperately that foi 
five months it was an almost hopeless 
struggle for life. To the last he was a 
sufierer and an invalid. 
Having occasion to visit Vera Cruz on 
} business during the height of the yel- 
low fevtr, the hand of death was laid 
gently and silently upon him, and he re- 
turned to the City of Mexico to die. 
The conflict did not last long. What 
could the emaciated soldier do in the 
grasp of one so relentless and so fierce ? 
The old wound bled afresh, and the obi 
' weakness had never left him. Bazainc 
' sent to him his own physician. All thai 
! skill could do was done ; all that ten- 
derness or affection could suggest was 
performed. In vain. The good man 
died as he had lived, in peace with the 
world and with the good God who had 



I20 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



afflicted Mm sorely in his own "wise way, 
and who carried Ins eoul straight to 
Iteaven. 

The work of evacuation went steadily 
on. As the French retired, city after 
city received the Liberals with many 
demonstrations of joy. In some of 
these, also, those Mexicans who had 
sympathized with the Empire were cru- 
elly treated ; in others they were im- 
prisoned or shot. The armies of Juarez 
were recruited by a levy en masse of all 
capable of bearing arms in the territory 
overrun by his ragamuffins. American 
sympathy was not wanting. Whatever 
in the way of arms, ammunition, sup- 
plies or clothiug was needed, was boun- 
tifully supplied. A picked detachment 
of Californians, three squadrons strong, 
formed a desperate body-guard for the 
President. Unquestioning as fate, they 
did his bidding even to torture and to 
massacre. They were feared and hated 
of the nation. 

A blow fell now, and fell suddenly, 
upon the colony of Caiiota. The name 
itself, of all names, was the most fatal, 
and it appeased somewhat the fierce ha- 
tred of the born robbers and traitors, 
who hated everything noble or true, to 
plunder all who were unresisting or de- 
fenceless, and who had over them 
the blessing of the stricken woman of 
Miramar, 

In a night the labor and toil of along 
year were utterly broken up and de- 
stroyed. A band of freebooters from 
the mountains, nearly two thousand 
strong, poured down through the gap 
the French had left unprotected, and 
the pillage was utter and complete. 
Quite an hundred colonists, males all oi 
tliem, were captured in the night aud 
marched far into the gloomy places and 
recesses of the mountains. Their sufter- 
ings wero terrible. Barefooted, days 
without food, beaten with sabres and 
pricked with lances, some few died, and 
the rest, after a month of barbarous 
captivity, made their way back to the 
French lines, scarcely more than alive. 
All had been robbed, many had been 
stripped. Those who survived the 



blow and the thrust were but few— 
those who were naked were the most nu- 
merous. 

The blow finished the colony. The 
farming implements were destroyed, 
the stock was slaughtered in the fields 
the cabins were burnt, the growing 
crops beaten down under the teet of the 
horses, and what the harrying cavalry 
spared the winds and the torches fin- 
ished. Nobody pitied the Americans. 
In the upheaval of all stable things, and 
in the ever-increasing contraction of the 
Imperial circle, what mattered a rob- 
bery more or less. The days of the col- 
onists were numbered wlien the French 
vessel that bore Castelnau anchored oil' 
the mole at Vera Cruz. 

Still, however, the Americans were 
here and there in demand. An English 
company owning valuable silver mines 
at Pachuca, felt the terror of the 
French withdrawal, and sought ,for 
something stronger to rely upon than 
Mexican manhood. Col. Ilobert C. 
Wood was in the City of Mexico at the 
time and was called upon to take com- 
mand of the Company's forces. These 
were peons and miners. He recruited 
in addition a dozen Americans ?nd went 
down to Pachuca to look after the silver 
deposits entrusted to his keeping. Vast 
masses of enormously rich ore, cut off 
from the seaports because of the revo- 
lutioD going on in the land, were piled 
up in huge heaps awaiting shipment. 
Wood took a look at it all and turned to 
its owner, an old Englishman, nervous 
but brave: 

*'How much is it all worthf 

"Well on to a million.'' 

"They will come for it strong, then — 
the robbers." 

"No, not for the silver ore, but for a 
ransom. I could stand one, or two, or 
three among the chiefs and pay them 
all well, but up among the hundreds it 
is impossible." 

Wood took command and went to for- 
tifying. The third day he found him- 
self surrounded. A summons to sur- 
render came. Before firing a gua a 
Mexican always seeks to arrange a ca- 



AN UN^VRITTEN LEAF OF THE AVAR. 



121 



pitulation. Palaver, from his own 
strong term imlabres, means after all 
nothing but words, words, words, in the 
rugged old Spanish. Since the com-, 
raander was not influenced to surrender, 
he had but one other thing to do— he 
fought like a tiger. In the end tlie first 
robber chief was driven away, for the 
Englishman's habitation was a fort, an 
arsenal, a store house, and a silver mine. 
Others advanced to the attack, but 
Wood held on for three long weeks, 
fighting every day, and keeping his ov/n 
right royally. The siege might have 
lasted longer, but Mendez, an Imperial 
Mexican, swept down from the Capitol 
and drove before him like, chaft the 
robber bands, preying alike upon the in- 
nocent and the guilty. Col. Wood 
marched out with the honors of war, 
the Englishman made his voyage sure 
to Vera Cruz ; there was no more fight- 
ing about Pachuca, but there was no 
no more silver ore as well. 

As the news of reverse after reverse 
came to MAxi]vnLiAN,he turned once more 
his despairing eyes toward the Ameri- 
cans, and sought among them for the 
nucleus of a corps. He sent for Shel- 
by, who was at Cordova, and had him to 
come post haste. Feeling that it was 
too late, Shelby yet answered the sum- 
mons with alacrity and presented him- 
self to the Emperor. 

The interview was brief, but, brief as 
it was, it was almost sad. 

" How many Americans are yet in the 
country ?" the Emperor inquired. 

" Not enough for a corporal's guard," 
was Shelby's frank reply ; "and the few 
who are left can not be utilized. Your 
Majesty has put oft' too long" the inaugu- 
ration of a plan which, while it might 
not have given you as many soldiers as 
France, would at least have restored a 
formidable rallying point and stayed 
for a time the tide of reverses that 
is rising all over Mexico. I don't 
know of two hundred eft'ective men 
among my countrymen who could be 
got together before the evacuation is 
complete." 

" I need twenty thousand," the Em- 

16A 



peror rejoined, as one who talked me- 
chanically. 

*' Yes, forty thousand. Of all the Im- 
perial regiments in your service, you 
cannot count upon one that will stand 
fast to the end. What are the tidings i 
In Gaudalajara— desertion. In Colima— 
desertion. In Durango, Zece.tecas, San 
Luis Potosi, Matehuala— it is nothing 
but desertion, desertion. As I came 
in I saw the Regiment of the 
Empress marching out. You will 
pardon me if I speak the truth, but 
as devoted as that regiment should be, I 
would call upon your Majesty to beware 
of it. When the need is greatest its 
loyalty will be most in doubt. Keep 
with you constantly all the household 
troops that yet belong to the Empire. 
Do not waste them in doubtful battles. 
Do not divide them among important, 
towns. The hour is at hand when in- 
stead of numbers you will have to rely 
upon devotion. I am but as one man, 
but whatever a single subject can do, 
that thing shall be done to the utmost." 

The Emperor mused some little time 
in silence. When he spoke again it was 
m a voice so sad as to be almost piti- 
ful. 

"It is so refreshing to hear the truth," 
he said, "and I feel that you have told 
it to me as ©ne who neither fears or flat- 
ters. Take this m parting, and remem- 
ber that circumstances never render im- 
possible the right to die lor a great 
principle." 

As the Emperor spoke he detached 
the golden cross of the Order of Guada- 
lupe from his breast and gave it into 
the hands of Shelby. 

He has it yet, a precious souvenir — 
the sole memento of a parting that for 
both was the last on earth. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
It was in these last days of the Em- 
piie that Gen. J. A. Early, a noble South- 
ern Tacitus, came over from Havana'to 
Mexico. His journey from the United 
States had been a romantic one. After 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court 
House, Gron. Early, with the keen eye of 
a thorough sportsman, had selected a 
horse in Virginia that in every way suit- 
ed his ideas of a horse. Above ail 
things he wanted one full of action and 
endurance. The ride before him was 
from ocean to ocean, as it were, from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. Having on 
nothing that would stand in the shape 
of the uniform of a soldier, and a good 
enough looking citizen in all except the 
bronze of his rough campaigning, he 
rode through Virginia and Iwrth Caro- 
lina, tlirough Tennessee and Mississip- 
pi, into Arkansas, and across it into Tex- 
as, and on through outlying bands of 
guerrillas and robbers to the port of 
Matamoras. Sometimes he went hungry 
for bread. For days together he had 
no shelter. He spoke but two words of 
)Spanish, and those contemptuously, be- 
cause the words themselves expressed 
so aptly the Mexican's idea of eternal 
nrocrastination. He got along some- 
how, however, and made his appearance 
to the few wlio were left among the 
Mexicans, as full of the fire of war, and 
as indifferent to either extreme of for- 
tune as when amid the echoes of the 
long and perilous battle he had seen 
victory come and go, at one time his 
hand-maiden, at another his Delilah. 

Gen. Early, even then, had written his 
book reviewing the military campaigns 
of Sheridan in the Valley of Virginia. 
Some articles had appeared in the Amer- 
ican press not exactly between them, 
but about them. Each had written free- 
ly of each. Each was a man who fol- 
lowed up his words, if need be, with 
blows. He disliked skirmishing very 
much, that was only skirmishing, so he 
concluded to go over to Havana and 
challenge Sheridan. He argued that 
Sheridan was an Irishman, that he prob- 
ably would not be averse to the opera- 
tions of the code, that he was personally 
brave, and that a shot or two between 
them, while ifc might not settle a single 
point at issue, would at least clear up 
the atmosphere of the correspondence a 
littie,and round off some of the angular- 



ities of the two antagonistic natures. He 
was over-persuaded, however, and did 
not send the challenge. He returned to 
Canada, published his book, told some 
very necessary yet unpalatable truths, 
and has remained on duty ever since, a 
watchful sentinel over Southern honor 
as amplified and exemplified by South- 
ern history. 

Foreigners of all nations ;now began 
to put each his house in order. None 
had faith in the empire— none believed 
that it could survive the shock of the 
French withdrawal three months. Max- 
imilian had no money. He was suspi- 
cioned of the Church. The Archbishop 
was his enemy. His wife, really and 
truly his better half, his noble, self- 
sacrificing, heroic Carlota, was dead to 
him, to his love, to whatever of triumph 
or despair the future had in store for 
him. The dark hour was upon Saul 
Shrouded in the mental blackness of a 
great darkness, Maximilian as he al- 
ways did when he was hard hunted, fled 
to Cuernavaca. He remained three 
days, the prey of conflicting emotions, 
and the one Isolated and desolate figure 
in a land that had in it the birds and 
the odors of Paradise. 

When he returned he had taken upon 
himself a sudden resolution. He would 
leave the country, too, he had said to 
some of his nearest followers. The 
Emperor Napoleon had urged him to 
retire with the French, the Emperor of 
Austria had done the same, so had the 
Queen of England, so had Bazaine, so 
had everybody, who knew how the 
scholar^ and the gentleman would at 
last be destroyed in a contact with brute 
force, ignorance and cupidity. There 
can be no doubt whatever of the Em- 
peror's intention at this time to abandou 
Mexico. The condition of his wife's 
health, the attitude of the Catholic 
Church, his empty treasury, the mutiny 
and disaiiection among his native regi- 
ments, the baseness, corruption and 
falsehood on every hand, so impressed 
Mm at last that a great reaction came 
and a great disgust for the people whose 
cause he had espoused and whose eoun- 



AN UNWRITffiN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



123 



try he had endeavored to pacify and re- 
deem. He retired suddenly to Orizava, 
a city two days journey towards Vera 
Cruz. The movement was ominous, 
and a great fear fell upon 
those among the Imperialists who had 
yet the manhood and the decency to 
thus preserve the semblance of aftec- 
tion. Generals Miramon and Marquez 
went to him at once. LoDg consulta- 
tions followed, and the result arrived at 
was a decree on the part of the Empe- 
ror convoking a national Congress, on 
the most ample and liberal basis, where- 
in all political parties mightparticipate. 
On the 12th of October, 1866, the Empe- 
ror returned to Puebla, one day's jour- 
ney toward the capital, one day's jour- 
ney further from the sea-coast. Tlie 
Imperialists again took courage. On the 
5th of January, 1867, the Emneror re- 
turned again to Mexico. 

During his stay in Orizaba, his Majes- 
ty had a long and confidential interview 
with Governor Thomas C. Reynolds. 
He had been in the habit of consulting 
him upon various occasions, and had in 
more than one instance followed the ad- 
vice given by this remarkable, clear- 
headed and conscientious man. To 
Reynolds he unbosomed himself fully 
and without reserve. He dwelt upon 
the condition of the country and the 
apparent hopelessness of the effort he 
was making to maintain himself. He 
complained that he had no advisers who 
understood the nature of the surround- 
ings, and who could give a sensible and 
patriotic reason for anything. He want- 
ed sympathy really as much as he did 
advice, and Reynolds gave him both. 
He urged upon him the necessity of 
remaining in Mexico and of dying, if 
needs be, for his kingdom and his crown. 
Reynolds also recalled briefly the his- 
tory of his ancestors, the names great 
among the greatest of his race, and re- 
minded him as delicately as possible, 
yet very firmly, that Hapsburg as he 
was he had need but of two things— to 
perish or succeed. There was a sacred 
duty he owed, first to his name, and 
then to those other young and daunt- 1 



less spirits who had followed him across 
the ocean and who could not be aban- 
doned to be destroyed. Men of the 
Hapsburg race either conquered desti- 
ny or were conquered by it iu war har- 
ness and in front of the tight. Stand- 
ing or falling, he should head his ar- 
mies and trust himself, as his ancestors 
had done before hiui, to the God of bat- 
tles and the sword. 

Maximilian returned to the City of 
Mexico, as has been already statt;d, on 
the 5th of January, 18G6. On the 6th of 
February, of the same year, the French 
troops left the capital. The Congress 
provided for at the Council of Oriziiva. 
owing to the deplorable condition of the 
country, did not meet. War was in the 
land, and rapine, and the slaughter of 
those who did not resist, nor yet had any 
arms in their hands. Bazaine. thv nislit 
before the evacuation of the city, souglit 
a private interview with the Emperor, 
and had it granted far into the morning. 
Asa soldier he reasoned with the Em- 
peror simply as a soldier. Treating the 
whole question at issue as one of men 
and means entirely, he demonstrated 
how futile all resistance would be, and 
how utterly impossible it was to main- 
tain an alien government without an ar- 
my. Having bis mind made up, hov.- 
ever, with the fixedness of desperation, 
Maximilian took no heed of Bazaiue's 
inexorable logic. The two parted cold- 
ly, never to meet again, but not as ene- 
mies. The Marshal pitied the Emperor 
— the Emperov smiled upon the Marshal 
In the presence of deatli, the man who 
can smile and forgive upon earth is al- 
ready forgiven in heaven. 

If there were any Mexicans now in the 
empire really devoted to Maximilian, 
they made no e ttbrt to sustain him. As 
the French lines receded the lines of 
Juarez moved up and occupied every- 
thing. Regiments deserted m a body, 
garrisoned towns were given up, the na- 
tive troops would not fight against na- 
tive troops— all cohesiveness was gone. 
There was no discipline ; it was dark in 
every quai i;er, and the time for giants to 
arise was 1; ;^ar at hand. In this condi- 



134 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico ; 



tion of the country Maximilian took the 
field. 

From the first he led a forlorn hope. 
The whole Imperial fabric, unsupported 
by French bayonets, literally fell to 
pieces. Miramon was defeated in Dur- 
ango; Mendez had to retreat from the 
South; Marquez lost Pueblo and the 
outlying towns about the Capital; from 
a force amounting to fifty thousand 
men on paper, Maximilian, all told and 
when every general and every detach- 
ment was in at Queretero, could not, if 
he had tried, have counted nine thous- 
and soldiers who had faith in the des- 
tiny of the Empire, and who knew how 
to die for it. 

On the 13th of February, 1866, the 
Emperor, leaving Marquez in command 
of the City of Mexico, concluded to take 
command of the army m the field. Ac- 
cordingly, on that day he marched 
northward. The force under him num- 
bered barely eighteen hundred, and was 
composed equally of the three arms, in- 
fantry, cavalry and artillery. 

The first day's march brought slight 
skirmishing; on the fourth day the 
skirmishing grew suddenly heavy and 
hot, the Hungarians of his body guard 
made a splendid charge, the road was 
tolerably well cleared, and on the morn- 
ing of the 19th, amid the ringing of in- 
numerable bells and the noisy demon- 
strations of a vast multitude, the Em- 
peror entered the city of Queretero. 

It was an historical city, this of Quer- 
etaro. Fifty-seven leagues from the 
Capital, it had been founded about the 
year 1445, and was a part of the Empire 
of Montezuma I. A Spaniard, Fernando 
de Tapia, conquered it in 1531, and con- 
ferred upon it the name of Santiago de 
Queretaro— or, in the Tarasco idiom, a 
place where ball was played. 

Ominous christening ! The ball now 
about to be played was with those iron 
ones men play with death when death 
must win. 

The population of Queretaro was 
fully fifty thousand, and during the war 
with the United States the Mexican 
Congress held its sessions there. After- 



wards, in 1848, the commissioners of 
peace assembled there and signed the 
famous treaty of Hidalgo. 

The Emperor was no soldier, and yet 
he believed some fortifications were 
necessary to protect his inferior force 
from the greatly superior force he tnew 
was rushing to overwhelm, him from 
every portion of the Empire. From the 
1st of March to the IGth he worked like 
a grenadier. He rarely slept. He ate 
as the men did, fared alike with his sol- 
diers, he appealed to them as a comrade, 
led them forward as a king, and was 
beloved beyond all. 

On the 14th of March Gen. Escobedo, 
at the head of thirty thousand Mexi- 
cans, moved down from the north and 
invested the city. Here was one who 
had never known an hour of mercy; 
who had iron gray hair ; who was ang- 
ular and gaunt ; who lived much alont" 
suspicioned all men, who had been 
known to have rivals poisoned, who 
hated the French worse than the Aus- 
trians, the Americans worse than the. 
French, and who was a coward. 

On the 14th of March the city was at- 
tacked — thirty thousand against nine 
thousand. All day long the Emperor 
was under fire. At night he took no 
rest. Brave, modest, gentle, no expos- 
ure was too great for him — no personal 
hazard accounted a feather's weight in 
the scale of the day's doubtful fortunes. 
Not yet satisfied of his grip upon the 
town, Escobedo retired worsted. The 
grim lines of circumvallation, however, 
grew stronger day by day, and to the 
siege of the place a tide of soldiers 
poured constantly in, armed in all fash- 
ions, ragged, hungry for food, ravenous. 
It mattered not for guns. They had 
strength, and they could dig to keep 
well at bay those who, sooner or later, 
had to come out or starve. 

Succor was needed, and on the 32d of 
March, at the head of one thousand 
mounted men, Gen. Marquez, at the 
command of the Emperor, started to 
the Capital. He was to procure men, 
provisions, and munitions of war, and 
he was to return within fifteen days. 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



125 



All his orders were explicit. If he had 
not men enough to garrison and defend 
the City of Mexico, and also to increase 
his force sufficiently for the defence of 
Qaeretaro, then was he to abandon 
Mexico, and return with every soldier 
and every round of ammunition he 
could raise, to the head-quarters of the 
Emperor. The Emperor also conferred 
upon Marquez the title of Lupar Teni- 
cnte, or what is usually translated as 
meaning Lieutenant Gene.ral. It does 
mean this, and much more. Such an 
otlicer, in the absence of the sovereign, 
takes his place, and is recognized and 
obeyed accordingly. He has the abso- 
lute power of life and death in his 
hands, can declare war, appropriate 
money, make treaties, act, in short, as 
an absolate and unquestioned autocrat, 
and then in the end explain nothing. 

Marquez never returned toQueretaro. 
Was he a traitor ? In the peculiarly ex- 
pressive language of the race to which 
he belonged, the answer is only a shrug 
of the shoulders and a qnien sabe. In a 
nation of traitors, what matters one or 
two more or less? Marquez not only 
did not report, but such were the in- 
famies of his reign in Mexico, and such 
the outrages and oppressions he put up- 
on the people, that many, even in the 
last sad days of the Empire— many, in- 
deed, who were faithful and pure of 
heart — rose up to curse Maximilian, and 
to rejoice when the couriers came riding 
southward, telling of how the work was 
done. 

On the 27th of March a passable sortie 
was made. Two hundred Austrian 
Hussars, of the housthold troops, 
and a squadron or so of Hungarians, 
dashed across an open held at 
the charge, capturins two pieces of ar- 
tillery and two hundred men. 

No succor came from the Capital. 
Marquez reached the City of Mexico in 
safety and increased his forces to four 
thousand soldiers, eight hundred of, 
whom were Europeans. Instead of' 
marching immediately northward to 
Queretero, he marched directly south- 
ward to Puebla, then held by an impe- 



rial garrison, but closely bescigcd by 
Gen. Porfirio Diaz. As Manpiez ai)- 
proached, Diaz stormed the city, en- 
listed a large proportion of its defend- 
ers in his own ranks and turned savage- 
ly upon Marquez, He retreated at firsr. 
without a battle. Diaz pressed him 
flercely,|some heavy skirmishing ensued, 
but in the end all opposition ceased, and 
the remnant of Maximilian's army coop- 
ed itself up within the walls of Mexico 
and surrendered later at discretion. 

On the 14th of April, at Queretero, tiie 
Emperor's forces made another sortie, 
taking nineteen guns and six hundred 
prisoners. It was then his intention to 
abandon this position and reach Mexico 
by forced and incessant marches. But 
upon ascertaining fully the results of 
the victory, and becoming thoroughly 
acquainted with its magnitude and ef- 
fect, he countermanded the order of ex- 
ecution and tarried yet awhile longer, 
hoping to hear something that would 
re-assure him from other quarters. Fi- 
nally abandoning all idea of succor from 
the movements of Marquez, he ordered 
Prince Salm Salm, on the night of the 
17th, to go in quest of him, ascertain 
exactly his intentions, arrest and iron 
him if the need was, and bring back 
with him every available soldier possi- 
ble under his command. 

Prince Salm Salm, at the head of five 
hundred cavalry, sallied out precisely 
at midnight and advanced probably 
half a league. Suddenly a tremendous 
fire was opened upon him from artillery 
and infantry. Severely wounded in 
the foot himself, and satisfied from the 
force in position across his only 
road of exit that he could not get 
through, he returned within the lines, 
baffled and demoralized. 

On the 1st of May still another sortie 
was attempted. Miramou led this, and 
led it badly. Two hours of desperate 
fighting gave him no advantage, and 
when at last he was forced back, it was 
with a precipitancy so great as to ap- 
pear like a rout. 

The cloud of disaster now became 
darker and nearer. Maximilian bore up 



iz6 



SHELBY'S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO ; 



bravely. As long as his private funds 
lasted, he divided them among the sick 
and the wounded. Constantly in the 
front of the fight, and dauntless in 
the discharge of every duty, he com-, 
manded, inspired, toiled and faced the 
inevitable as became the greatness of 
Lis nature and the magnitude of the in- 
terests at stake. He commanded scarcely 
nine thousand men. Foremost ' in the 
sorties, forming all the forlorn hopes, 
looking forward to tlie future only as 
those who had no future, his Europeans 
died and made no moan. Many near 
and dear to him had fallen. Some who 
had followed his fortunes in other lands 
and on seas full of wonder and peril, 
tell where could come to them neither 
friendly hand nor sepulchre. Those the 
enemy got they mutilated— those who 
dragged themselves back from the bat- 
tle's wreck, slowly and painfully, had 
the prayer of the priest and the last 
warm grasp of a kingly hand. These 
were all— but to these poor, faithful, 
simple-minded soldiers, these were a 
great deal. 

On the morning of the 13th of May, 
Maximilian determined, when the night 
came, to abandon the city of Queretaro. 
Having yet, however, to arm some 
three thousand citizens, the evacuation 
was postponed. On the evening of the 
14th, Miramon came to the Emperor and 
suggested to him the importance of 
calling a council composed of all the 
Generals of the army. Above all things 
ifc was necessary to have unity of action, 
and this could best be done after a full 
and free interchange of opinion was in- 
dulged in. The Emperor consented, 
and in consenting signed his death war- 
rant. 

Before the consultation was had, the 
Emperor turned his honest, clear blue 
eyes upon the face of Colonel Lopez, 
commander of the Empress' Regiment, 
and said to him very gently, as he laid 
his hand, comrade fashion, upon his 
shoulder, decorated with the epaulettes 
the Empress herself had braided: 

" Tou need take no concern about the 



march. Your regiment has been detail- 
ed as my especial escort." 

The Judas smiled as all Judases have 
done for six thousand years, and went 
his way to betray him. 

The Generals met during the day of 
the 14th and resolved to march out from 
Queretaro at eleven o'clock that night. 
When the time came the volunteers 
were still unarmed, and some ot the 
Generals asked the delay of another 
day. Gen. Mendez, also, a gallant and 
devoted officer, being quite unwell and 
unable to ride, sent Col. Redonet to the 
Emperor with a petition asking for fur- 
ther time that he might conquer his 
malady and lead his old brigade in 
person. 

Maximilian yielded to these urgent so- 
licitations and fixed at last positively 
upon the night of the 15th. 

Full fifty thousand men now invest- 
ed Quaretaro. Corona, a general of 
more than ordinary Mexican ability, 
came down from Durango and joined 
his forces to those of Escobedo. The 
lines of investment were complete — 
fifty thousand besieging nine thousand. 

About the headquarters of Maximilian 
all was silence and expectancy. Gen. 
Castillo, of the Imperial staff, conveyed 
to the various officers, secretly and ver- 
bally, the orders for the night. No- 
where did the gleaming of camp fires 
appear. The infantry were to carry 
their cartridges and blankets, the can- 
non upon the fortifications were to be 
spiked and the magazines flooded. Some 
eight and ten-pounders, dismounted 
and packed on mules, together with 
Jight supplies of grape and cannister, 
completed the arm of resistance in the 
way of artillery. 

On the west and directly in front of 
the lines held by Corona, the entire 
garrison was to be concentrated. 
Thence pouring out through the night- 
surprising, stabbing, bayoneting, gain- 
ing the rugged defiles of the Sierra 
Gorda— there was slight work thereafter 
in laying hands upon succor and safety. 

Twelve hundred armed citizens of 
Quaretaro weye to remain behind and 



AN tnsrWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR 



127 



protect the people and the property of 
the city as far as migbt be. These, 
after twenty-four hours had passed, 
were to surrender to General Escobedo. 
The Emperor retired at eight o'clock 
and slept until one. Prince Salm Salm, 
until twelve o'clock, was busy io ar- 
ranging the private papers of Maximilian 
and in packing them in small canvass 
sacks that might be strapped to the 
saddles of the escort company. Many 
were busy in writing words of tender- 
ness and farewell. As there were no 
lights, the staft officers assisted each 
other by smoking cigarettes close to the 
paper that a few words might be 
scribbled by the fleeting and uncertain 
light. 

The sortie might have won. It was 
the last and only resort of nine thou- 
sand desperate men who had been 
starving, who in eleven days had only 
scant allowances of mule or horse meat, 
and who had been under fire long 
enough to be acclimated. 

It was not to be, however. Between 
one and two o'clock the traitor Lopez, 
having previously communicated with 
Escobedo, crept silently from his quar- 
ters and took his way through the dark 
and narrow streets of Queretaro. Col. 
Garza, commanding the advance out- 
posts of the investing army, met him 
first. Garza was an honorable soldier 
who despised the work he was engaged 
in, and the man who came to him in the 
midnight, a coward and a traitor. As 
he advanced to meet him he did not ex- 
tend his hand, but said curtly : 

"You are expected. Such work as this 
needs to be done quickly." 

Garza reported with Lopez to Gen. 
Veliz, a division commander. The 
three together visited Escobedo and re- 
turned almostly directly, Garza having 
been ordered to follow the traitor with 
his command and do as he was bidden. 

There was a large church on the south 
called La Cruz, and near this church a 
hole in the wall of defense. Thither 
went Lopez, Veliz and Garza. Here 
Veliz halted, but Garza and Lopez went 
en. Be it remembered, also, that Lopez 



had been the officer of the day, that he 
was the highest just then in authority 
in the city, and that having the pass 
word, he could arrange the forces at 
pleasure, and transpose or withdraw 
posts and outposts as the exigencies of 
his terrible treason migh demand. 

When the nearest station of Imperial 
troops was reached, Garza halted his 
command. Lopez rode forward and 
asked of the officer on duty if there was 
any news. 

"None,'' was the reply. 

"Then parade your men and call the 
roll." 

This was done with militaiy accu- 
racy and speed. Afterwards the de- 
tachment was marched to the rear of 
Garza, leaving him in possession of the 
fort. The Liberals were in Queretaro. 
The beginning of the end was at hand. 
Other Liberal officers were put in pos- 
session of other posts, and before an 
hour had passed the treachery was com- 
plete. As the Liberal forces entered 
the city, quite a number of the Imperial 
officers were awake. As they saw Col. 
Rincon's regiment — a Liberal regiment 
of some celebrity— march by their bar- 
racks, they looked out carelessly and 
took no note. Some of their own troops, 
they imagined, were going by or getting 
ready for the sortie. 

By half -past three o'clock fully two- 
thirds of the city was in possession of 
the Liberals. Suddenly and with great 
force all the church bells began to 
ring. The streets were filled with 
bodies of armed men. Aides galloped 
hither and thither. Skirmishing shots 
broke out in every direction. There 
I were cries, shouts, the blare of multi- 
tudinous bugles, and from afar the 
• heavy rumbling and dragging of ar- 
tillery. 

Great confusion fell upon the Imperial- 
ists. Some thought that Marquez had 
returned, and had attacked and defeat- 
ed Escobedo. Others, that it was only 
a fight at the outposts— many, that the 
short, hot work of the sortie had actu- 
ally begun. And so it had, with the 
lines reversed. Lopez had an adjutant, 



128 



Shelby's expedition to Mexico ; 



a Pole named Yablonski, who was with 
him in his treasonable plot, but who yet 
sought to save the Emperor. Feigning 
sleep, he had not yet closed his eyes in 
slumber. All his senses were on the 
qui vive for tlie ringing of the bells that 
were to usher in the traged3^ The first 
echo brought him to his feet — erect, 
nervous, vigorous. 

Maximilian occupied the convent of 
La Cruz, and next to the room of the 
Emperor was that of his private secre- 
tary, Jose Blasio. Yeblonski went close 
up to Blasio and whispered : 

" The enemy are in the garden ; get 
ui. I" 

Half-dressed and heavy with the deep 
sleep of exhaustion, Blasio staggered 
into the apartment of the Emperor. In 
a few moments Maximilian knew all. 
He was tbe coolest man there, and so sad 
and so gentle that it seemed as if he did 
not care to live. The convent was sur- 
rounded. Castillo, Guzman, Salm Salm 
and; Padillo, all officers w'ho were quar- 
tered near the Emperor, walked into liis 
presence. Padillo informed him that 
the enemy were in possession of the 
convent ; that ten pieces of artillery had 
been taken in its very plaza, and that 
all defense of the mere building itself 
was useless. Maximilian very quietly 
took up a brace of revolvers, handed 
one to Padillo, and went to the door of 
his room, followed hj Padillo, Blasio 
and Salm Salm. " To go out here or to 
die is the only way," he said, and they 
crossed the corridor. 

A sentinel at the head of the steps 
halted them. Maximilian leveled his 
revolver. An officer of the Liberal 
army— a brave, chivalrous and heroic 
Mexican, supposed to be Col. Kincon — 
struck with a strange and generous 
pity, cried out to the sentinel : 

"Let them pass; they are citizens." 

In the plaza a line of leveled muskets 
again came up in front of them. Cap- 
ture was imminent— or death unknown 
and ignominious. Again Rincon spoke 
to tiie soldiers : 

"Let them pass; they are civilians." 

The lines opened and the Emperor, 



followed by his little escort, reached the 
regiment of the Empress. Lopez, its 
Colonel and its betrayer, was at its head, 
mounted and ready for orders. A 
huge hill. El Cerro de las Campanas, 
was the rallying point now of Maximil- 
ian's confused, scattered and demoral- 
ized forces. Thither he hurried with 
what was left of this chosen body of his 
very household's troops. On tbe way 
Castillo was met, who cried out : 

"All is lost. See, your Majesty, the 
enemy's force is coming very near." 

Just then a body of infantry was en- 
tering the plaza. Mistaken in their 
uniforms, and not aware of the extent 
and nature of the surprise, Maximilian 
exclaimed : 

"Thank God, our battalion of Munici- 
pal Guards are coming." 

Tbe error, however, was soon discov- 
ered and the little party started again 
for the hill. El Cerro. Maximilian was 
on foot. A horse, however, was brought 
to him which he mounted, reining it in 
and keeping pace with his companions. 
Lopez remained close to his side. Pass- 
ing the house of one Rubio, a rich Mex- 
ican, though not an Imperialist, Lopez 
said to the Emperor: 

"Your Majesty should enter here. In 
this way alone can you save yourself." 

Maximilian refused peremptorily, and 
issued his orders with singular calmness 
and clearness. Meeting Capt. Jenero, 
Gen. Castillo's adjutant, he bade him 
seek Miramon at once and order him to 
concentrate every available soldier up- 
on El Cerro de las Campanas. To 
another officer he cried out: 

"Go among your men and talk to 
them. Expose your person and teach 
them how to die." 

On the summit of the hill there were 
only about one hundred and fifty men 
gathered. These, belonging principally 
to the infantry regiments, had strayed 
tbere more because of the observation 
the elevation attbrded than of a knowl- 
edge that it was the rallying point. Not 
all of them had ammunition. Some, 
roused suddenly from sleep, had snatch- 
ed up only their guns and rushed out 



ACS' UNWJRITTSJC LEAF OF THE WAR. 



t3f 



alarmed into tlie night. Soon tlie 
cavalry of the Empress anived, and, re- 
cogui^iing the Emperor, cheered for him 
bravely. This devotion touched him, 
and under the light of the stars he was 
seen to lift up his hat and bow his head. 

Was he thinking of Carlota 1 

Miramon did not come. The firing 
grew heavier in every direction. Mejia 
rallying a few men in the plaza del 
Ayuntamiento followed the regiment of 
the Empress. As they approached 
Maximilian spoke to Salm Salm. 

"Eide forward and see if Miramon can 
not be distinguished among those who 
are coming up." 

General Mendez, a lion in combat, and 
so weak from illness as to be put with 
difficulty upon his horse, was surprised 
in the Alemedaand surrounded. Would 
he surrender? Never: and the battle 
began. It was a carnage— a massacre. 
His men fell fearfully fast— shot down, 
helpless, by an unseen and protected 
foe. A ball broke his left arm. He 
swayed in the saddle, but he held fast. 

"Bring here a strap!" he shouted, 
and strap me fast. I want to die in 
the harness." 

He tried to cut through to El Cerro. 
Met half way, and caught in a dreadful 
ambuscade, the slaughter was renewed. 
Another ball carried away the point of 
his chin, and yet a third disabled his 
right shoulder, and yet a fourth killed 
his horse. Scarcely alive, he was drag- 
ged out insensible. Reviving a little 
towards daylight, at six in the morning 
a fusillade finished him. Among all the 
Koldiers of Maximilian, he was the no- 
blest, the bravest and the best.. 

How fared it with Miramon, sound 
asleep when the traitor Lopez stole in 
through the battered wall at the head 
of an insatiable tide swallowing up the 
tottering and dissolving fabric of Ira- 
perialiism '? 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Awakened by the ringing of bells, the 
broken i-attle of irregular musketry, 
and now and then a cannot shot, Mira- 



J7A 



mou half arose in his bed, cleared hi» 
eyes from the heaviness of sleep, and 
spoke calmly to his aid-de-camp : 

" I fear that we are lost. Inside the 
walls a traitor has surely been at work." 

He dressed himself speedily and de- 
scended into the street. It was full of 
soldiers. He imagined that they were 
his own. He spoke to them and an- 
nounced his name and rank. An ofiicer 
on horseback rushed upon him, put a 
carbine to his cheek and fired. Mira- 
mon, his jaw-bone shattered and his 
flesh blackened and powder burnt, 
swayed backward nearly from his feet, 
caught himself, lifted himself upright, 
and killed the officer dead in his saddle 
who had shot him. Miramon had a de- 
voted body-guard, and it rallied around 
him. In the darkness the fight became 
furious. Striving in vain to reach the 
hill where he supposed the Emperor was 
making a desperate stand, and weak 
from the loss of blood, Miramon stag- 
gered upon an open door and entered a 
house. It was the house of Dr. Sama- 
niegos, who hid him, and kissed him, 
and, Mexican like, went out into 
the streets to give his life away. He 
proclaimed aloud to the Liber- 
als that Miramon was alone in his house, 
and that the time was opportune to lay 
hands upon him. A band rushed in and 
bound and gagged him, and draggexi 
him away, suffericg excruciating tor- 
ture, to the convent of Terrecitas. 

The Emperor, therefore, waited in 
vain for Miramon— waited in agony and 
uncertainty until two batteries of San 
Gregorio and Celaya opened a tremen- 
dous fire upon his position. Turning to 
Prince Salm Salm, he was heard to ex- 
claim from the depths of liis despair : 

"Oh, my friend, would that one of 
these shells would end it all now and 
speedily." 

! Alas! he was reserved for Mexican 
bullets. 

I Directly, Col. Gonzales galloped up 
with a portion of a regiment, saluted, 
and reported the condition of Miramon. 
Maximilian sighed heavily, rested his 
I head upon his hands for a few moments. 



[^0 



SHELBY S JaXPEDlTIOX TO MEXICO 



and then demanded suddenly of Castil- 
lo and Mejia if it were possible to break 
through the lines of the enemy. 

Old Mejia, the small, cool, devoted 
Indian fatalist and fighter, turned his 
glass towards the enemy and surveyed 
them accurately through the night. 
When he had finished, he merely shrug- 
ged his shoulders and replied : 

"Sire, it is impossible. If you order it 
we will try it. For my part, I am ready 
to die. For fifty years I have waited 
for this." 

Maximilian then took Padillo by the 
arm and spoke to him briefly : 

"It is necessary to make a quick de- 
termination in order to avoid greater 
misfortunes. Is it surrender f 

"Yes, sire," said Castillo, Padil}o,Gon- 
zales, and " Yes, sire," said M^jia, in a 
mad whisper, his head drooping upon his 
breast. 

Immediately a white flag was lifted 
up from the top of the hill, and messen- 
gers were sent at once to Escobedo ask- 
ing an interview upon the following 
basis : 

"First — To make Maximillian alone 
the victim of the war. 

"Second — The men of the army to be 
treated with the soldierly consideration 
merited by their valor^and devotion. 

"Third — The lives and liberty of those 
who were immediately in the Emperor's 
personal service." 

Before an answer was returned, Max- 
imilian saw in the distance a small 
squadron of soldiers, dressed in scarlet, 
and riding at a rapid speed towards the 
Campanas. He mistook them for his 
own Huzzars, and cried out, his voice 
heavy with emotion : 

"It is too late— they come too late, but 
see what fearful risk they run to reach 
me. Look howv'they endure the fire of 
the batteries. Who would not be proud 
of such soldiers ?" 

Alas! they were not even a portion of 
his own decimated yet devoted foreign 
followers. They were the advance of 
Ti"eyina'8 robber cavalry, coming to 
hmit the Emperor. 



As they drew near, the fire slackened, 
and suddenly ceased altogether. An 
officer, a captain, rode forward, and 
with a vulgar and cowardly epithet, de- 
manded Maximilian. His Majesty, calm 
as a grenadier on guard, stepped outside 
the fortification, and replied with much 
sweetness and dignity : 
" I am he." 

" Mendez has been shot," this officer 
continued brutally, " and Miramon, and 
by and by it will come Maximilian's 
and Mejia's turn." 

The Emperor did not answer. He 
pitied the coward who did not know 
how to treat misfortuue. Sternly bid- 
ding his subordinate to go to the rear. 
General Echegarry, a Liberal officer of 
some humanity, rode to the front and 
demanded courteously the surrender of 
Maximilian and his officers. This was 
at once accorded, the Emperor again 
exclaiming, "If you should require any- 
body's life, take mine, but do not harm 
my officers. I am willing to die if you 
require it, but intercede with General 
Escobedo for the life of my officers." 

Presently General Corona rode up, 
and again the Emperor interceded for 
his personal adherents : 

"If you want another victim, I am pre- 
pared to go. Do not harm those whose 
only crime in your eyes is their devotion 
to me." 

Corona replied coldly : 

" It does not belong to me to make 
promises. Until yon are delivered 
to the General-in-chief in person, your 
own life and that of your officers will be 
safe." 

Horses were furnished, and the Im- 
perialist Generals, Costello, Mejia, and 
Salm Salm, together with the Em- 
peror, and the Liberal Generals, Corona 
and Echegarry, mounted and rode down 
the hill towards the city. It was not 
long before Gen. Escobedo was met, 
when a countermarch was had, and they 
all returned to the hill again, and into 
the fort, where they dismounted. 

After dismounting, Maximilian ex- 
tended his hand to Escobedo. His own 
never, for a single iustaat. 



AN UNWRITTEN iEAF OF THE WAR. 



Jll 



seemed to have entered liis mind. His 
talk was ever of his followers. 

"If you wish more blood," he re- 
marked to Escobedo, "take mine. I ask 
at your hands good treatment for the 
officers who have been true to me. Do 
not let them be insulted or maltreated.' 

"All shall be treated as prisoners of 
war, even your Majesty," was the sig- 
uiticant reply of the Mexican butcher. 

In an hour, with a heavy guard over 
him— homeless, crownless, sceptreless— 
Maximilian was a close prisoner in the 
Convent of La Cruz. At his special re- 
quest the officers of his household, 
Prince Balm Salm, Col. Guzman, Minis- 
ter Aguirre, Col. Padillo, Dr. Basch, and 
Don Jose Blasio, his secretary, were 
permitted to be imprisoned in the same 
building. They remained four days 
there— three of which the Emperor re- 
mained in bed, seriously sick of a dys- 
entery. On the fiftb day they Avere re- 
moved to the Convent of Terrecitas. 
After enduring seven days of rigorous 
captivity in this gloomy abode, they 
were taken to the Convent of Capuchi- 
nas, where were also imprisoned 
all the Generals of the Imperial 
army. For four days they all remained 
together on the first floor. On the fifth, 
Maximilian, Mejia and Miramon were 
seperated from the rest and imprisoned 
in the second story. The work of win- 
nowing had already commenced— so 
soon and yet so ominous. 

Here the Emperor had leisure to re- 
view the past, and answer to his own 
heart the question : Had he done his 
duty. In his conscience, perhaps, there 
was little of upbraiding. True, he had 
committed mistakes here and grievous 
errors of judgment yonder ; but who is 
infallible. He had tried to do right, 
and he had nothing to reproach himself 
with. No form of speech could express 
his astonishment at the betrayal of Lo- 
pez. He had trusted him in all things, 
confided in him, leaned upon him, lifted 
him up and promoted him, brought to 
him the flattery and friendship of his 
beautiful Empress— and in the one su- 
prwH* moment of his destiny, in th« 



very hour of the desperate crisis of 
his life and his reign, this Lopez, thin 
tawny, fawning, creeping, cowardly 
thing, surrendered him without so much 
as a qiuckened pulse-beat, or a guilty 
and accusing blush. He had been the 
god-father to Lopez's child. He had 
laid bare to Lopez the inmost recesses 
of his heart, and in his last and moat 
terribl'^ hour to be betrayed when the 
struggl oe was making was not eveu 
for himself, was too bad. 

Nor did Lopez lay himself down on » 
bed of roses when the black treachery 
was done. His beautiful wife deserted 
him, and published to all Mexico th« 
story of his infamy and ingratitude. His 
children abandoned his household and 
sought shelter and protection with the 
mother. On dress parade one day, when 
an army was on review, a Juaiista Col- 
onel smote him upon either cheefc , the 
lazzaroni hooted at him and cried out 
" el triador! el triadorP'' as he passed 
along, the very beggars turned away 
their eyes from him without asking for 
a,lms, and nowhere could he find pity 
and charity except in the bosom of 
that church which, no matter how 
dark are the stains of blood upon the 
hands of the sinners, prays always tliat 
they may be made white as snow. 

The captivity of Maximilian contin- 
ued. It was rigid, gloomy ,foreboding— 
a little darker than Spanish captivity 
generally, because to the cruelty of the 
original Spaniard, there had been add- 
ed the cunning and selfish craftiness of 
the Indian. He was denied all inter- 
course with his fellows except that 
which the officials had. His food was 
coarse, his water not plenty, his sun- 
light barred out, and his pure air made 
pestilential because of the filth with 
which they delighted to surround him. 

Physical depnvations, however, made 
no way to subdue the lofty pride and 
the christian heroism and fortitude of 
his kingly character. His head was yet 
borne splendidly erect, and in the day 
or tlie night-time, in a room that was 
like a dungeon, or in the veatibnlc 
where the naked and unwashed animaJs 



132 



SHELBYS EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



ef sentinels slept, he was the same pa- 
tient, kindly, courteons gentleman- 
true to his name, his lineage, and his 
manhood. 

The half-breed butchers, however, 
who were soon to try him, and to sit 
with sandalled feet about a table where 
military justice was to declare itself, 
tried first, in Indian fashion, to degrade 
the victim they meant to torture alive. 
A proclamation, purporting to have 
been written by Masimilian, was print- 
ed in every newspaper in the Empire. 
It bore no date. It was abject, coward- 
ly, plausible if a Mexican had written 
it, a paltry forgery when ascribed to a 
Hapsburg, and it was as follows : 
"The Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, 
of Hapsburg, ex-Emperor of Mexico, 
to all of its inhabitants : 
"Compatriots : 

"After the valor antl the patriotism 
of the Eepublican armies have brought 
about the end of my reign in this city, 
the obstinate defense of which was in- 
dispensable to save the honor of my 
cause and of my race ; after this bloody 
siege, in which have rivalled in abnega- 
tion and bravery the soldiers of the Em- 
pire with those of the Eepublic, I am 
going to explain myself to you. 

"Compatriots : I came to Mexico ani- 
mated not only with a firm hope of mak- 
ing you, and every one of you, individ- 
ually happy, but also protected and 
called to the throne of Montezuma and 
Iturbide by the Emperor of France, 
Napoleon III. He has abandoned us 
cowardly and infamously, through the 
fear of the United States, placing in 
ridicule France itself, and making it 
spend uselessly its treasures, and shed- 
ding the blood of its sons and yourown. 
When the news of my fall and death 
will reach Europe, all its monarchs, and 
the land of Charlemange, will ask an 
account of my blood, and that of the 
Germans, Belgians, and French shed in 
Mexico, from the Napoleon dynasty. 
Then will be the end. 

•^The whole world will soon see Na- 
poleoij covered with shame from head 
t« foot. 



"Now the world sees His Majesty, th« 
Emperor of Austria, my august brother, 
supplicating for my life before the Uni- 
ted States, and me a prisoner of war at 
the disposition of the Eepublican gov- 
ernment, with my crown and heart torn 
to pieces. 

"Compatriots: my last word* 
to you are these ; I ar- 
dently desire that my blood may regen- 
erate Mexico; and that as a warning to 
all ambitiousand incautious persons, you 
may know how, with prudence and true 
patriotism, to take advantage of your 
triumph, and through your virtues en- 
noble the political cause, the banner of 
which you sustain. May Providence 
save you, and make me worthy of my- 
self. "Maximilian." 

The vile forgery went every where. 
Ihe soldiers on guard that could read, 
read it aloud and laughed long and de- 
risively in the hearing of the Emperor. 
A copy was brought to him. He wrote 
upon the back, in pencil, this : 

"I authorize Colonel and Aid-de-Camp 
Prince Salm Salm to deny in my name 
this last efiort to disgrace me before 
posterity. This proclamation is not 
mine, its sentiments are not mine, its 
declarations are not true, and these, 
therefore, certainly cannot be mine. 
Should Colonol and Aid-de-Camp Prince 
Salm Salm escape the fate certainly in 
store for me, he will publish in Europe 
this my earnest declaration." 

Salm Salm did survive him, and his- 
tory has given the lie fully to the black 
plot worthy of the nation that concoc- 
ted it. 

The trial was a farce. Since the work 
of the traitor Lopez, there had been no 
hope for Maximilian. 

On Tuesday morning, May 38, 1867, 
the fiiends of the Emperor began to 
bestir themselves in his behalf. Mr. 
Bansen, the Hamburg Consul resident 
at San Luis Potosi, the wife of Prince 
Salm Salm, Baron Magnus, the Prussian 
Minister, and Frederick Hall, an Amer- 
ican lawyer, concentrated themselves at 
Queretaro and laid plans for the aequit- 
tal of his Majftgty. 



AX UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WAR. 



133 



Maxinnlian talked much before Lis 
trial— the broken and unconnected talk 
of one who felt without seeing it the 
shadow of approaching death. He de- 
clared that he came to Mexico with the 
sincere belief that he was called to the 
government by the great masses of the 
people. After his reception at Vera 
Cruz he had remarked to the Empress: 
"Surely the deputation were right when 
they said a majority of the Mexicans 
were in favor of our coming to be their 
ruler. I never in all Europe saw a 
sovereign received with such enthusiasm 
us greeted us." 

He put upon Bazaine the responsibil- 
ity of the decree of October 8, 1865— that 
decree which reiiuired the execution of 
all Liberals caught with arms in their 
hands. Bazaine, he said, appeared be- 
fore the Council of State and declared 
that decree to be a military necessity. 
Juarez was in Texas, although Juarez 
had always denied having been driven 
out of the country. On this pomt he 
was exceedingly sensitive, and because 
of the statement made by the Emperor 
that Juarez was no longer in the terri- 
tory he professed to rule over as Presi- 
dent, he, the Emperor, was clearly of 
,the opinion that Juarez most heartily 
despised him. 

Maximilian might have gone further 
and said that to this hatred there tad 
been added ferocity. 

The Emperor held the Americans in 
high estimation. He said: "The Ameri- 
cans are a great people for improve- 
ments, and are great lovers of justice. 
They pay such respect to the laws that I 
admire them. And if God should spare 
my life, I intend to visit the United 
States and travel through them. You 
can always rely oa the word of an 
American gentleman." I 

Efforts were made to bring the trial i 
before the Mexican Congress, but it | 
failed. The cruel Indian Juarez dared 1 
not trust any tribunal other than the i 
cotiit martial— one orgaaizedto convict, 
and one that would therefore be deaf, 
bliud, and unaparin£-. 



On the morning of June 4th, Maximil- 
ian remarked gaily to one of his coun- 
sellors : 

"We must hurry with busineHis. 
I have been talking with Miramon. H« 
has counted up the time and says that 
he thinks they will shoot us on Friday 
morning." 

This was on Tuesday that he spoke so, 
and while under the impression that the 
lawyers he had sent for to the City of 
Mexico would not be permitted to come 
through the lines and defend him. 

Still the lawyers did not come, and 
the Princess Salm Salm determined to 
go alone to look for them. She 
had a carriage but no horses, 
and an application was made 
to a Liberal General to furniiih 
iust two animals to take her to the near- 
est stage station. The General replied 
that if he had a thousand to spare, he 
would not let one go for any such pur- 
pose. .This kind of spirit pervaded, 
with here and there an exception, the 
entire army. In such spirit was the 
court martial selected, and in such 
spirit did Escobedo* declare to Juarez 
that unless Maximilian was shot ht- 
could not hold his troops together. 

In these early days of June some 
thoughts of escape presented themselves 
to the Emperor's mind, and a plan to 
save him had been agreed upon. A 
slippery Italian rascal, one Henry B. 
del Borgo, a captain in the Liberal 
army, had received two thousand dol- 
lars from Maximilian to purchase six 
horses, saddles, equipments and pistols. 
Of this amount the Italian spent six 
hundred dollars in horses and accoutre- 
ments, which were to be ready at a de- 
signated spot on a certain night. The 
three prisoners were furthermore to be 
let out at the proper time, when a quick 
rush was to take place, and a desperate 
gallop for the mountains. Mejia knew 
all the country, the plan was a moe-t 
feasible one, but to the surprise of ev- 
ery one, the Italian, after divulging all 
the particulars of the plot, includinghis 
©wn actions, was permitted to retiiti 
upon th« balaneo of tha nwraej and take 



m 



SHELiBV S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 1 



with Mm the compliments of Escobedo 
tor the patriotism and ability he had 
manifested in thus finding out and ex- 
posing the schemes of the traitors. 

After this betrayal on the part of the 
miserable little Italian, all the foreign- 
ers were ordered to leave Queretaro. 
Escobedo would make no exceptions. 
Maximilian's American counsel had to 
go with the rest, and all of the Austrian 
and Belgian officers and soldiers who 
were not to be tried for their lives im- 
mediately. 

The Government of Mexico recog- 
nized Maximilian only as the Archduke 
of Austria, and his Generals, 
Miramon and Mejia, only as so- 
called Generals. As such the 
court martial proceeded to try them — a 
court composed as follows: Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Platon Sanchez, President ; 
Captains Jose VincenteKamirez, Emilio 
Lojero, Ignacio Jurado, Juan Kueday 
Auza, Jose Verastigui, and Lucas Villa- 
gran. It held its fiist session on the 37th 
day of May, 1867, and on the 14th of 
J une, of the same year, at midnight, the 
three prisoners, Maximilian, Mejia, and 
Miramon, were sentenced to death. On 
the 16th, Escobedo telegraphed to Juarez 
as follows : 
" Citizen President : 

" The sentence which the Council of 
War pronounced on the 14th instant, has 
been confirmed at these headquarters, 
and to-day, at ten o'clock of the morn- 
ing the prisoners were notified thereof, 
and at three o'clock this afternoon they 
will be shot. Escobedo." 

A petition, asking Maximilian's life, 
signed by his Mexican lawyers, Messrs. 
Mariane lliva Palacio and Eafael Mai~ 
tiuez de la Tone, was peremptorily de- 
nied. Again they sought the President, 
and begged at his hands a brief respite. 
Five days were granted, and an order 
sent by telegraph to Escobedo to stay 
the execution until the 19th. 

Juarez had his headquarters daring 
the trial at San Luis Potosi. Hither 
came Baron Von A. V. I\Iagnus, the 
Prussian Minister near the Imperial 
C^oyei'ament ©f Mexico. He cams to in- 



tercede in behalf of Maximilian, and to 
do all that was possible to be done iu 
his behalf. He, too, visited Juarez, rep- 
resented to him the uselessness of the 
sacrifice, pointed out the impossibility 
of any further foreign intervention in 
the future, and in the name of mercy, 
and for the sake of Christian charity 
and forgiveness, asked the life of Max- 
imilian at the hands of the President of 
the Republic, 

It was of no avail. As cold as the 
snow upon the. summit of Popocatapetl 
was the heart of Juarez. 

Baron Magnus abandoned the eftort 
and went from San Luis to Queretaro. 
On the 15th news came that the Empress 
Carlota was dead. Gen. Mejia was 
chosen to convey this information to the 
Emperor, which he did gently and deli- 
cately. Maximilian wept a little, went 
away alone for a few brief moments, 
and came back a king again. In his 
last hours he meant to be strong to 
every fate. 

In the afternoon he wrote to Baron 
Largo, a member of his personal staft", 
and one who had been banished by Gen. 
Escobedo on the 14th of March : 

"I have just learned that my poor wife 
has died, and though the news afiects 
my heart, yet, on the other hand and 
under the present circumstances, it is a 
consiolation. I have but one wish on 
earth, and that is that my body may be 
buried next to that of my poor wife. I 
entrust you with this, as the representa- 
tive of Austria. I ask you that my legal 
heirs will take the same care of those 
who suiTuunded me, and my servants, 
as though the Empress and I had lived." 

On the 18th Baron Magnus arrived in 
Queretaro, and immediatelj^ visited the 
Emperor. Still hoping against hope, he 
again put himself in communcation with 
Juarez. Maximilian was to be^ehot on 
the 19th, and at midnight on the 18th 
Baron Magnus sent the following mes- 
sage : 
" His Excellency Sonor Don Lerdo de Tejada : 

" Having reached Queretaro to-day, I 
I am sure that the three persons, con' 
domned on th© 14th, di&d merally last 



A^' UXWRiTTlEX LJE^U- OV Tlltt WAR. 



135 



Sunday; and that tbe world so esti- 
mates it, as tliey bad laade every dispo- 
sifcion to die, and expected every instant, 
for an hour, to be carried to the place 
where they were to receive death, be- 
fore it was possible to communicate to 
them the order suspending the act. 

" The humane customs of our epoch 
do not permit that, after having suf- 
fered that horrible punishment, they 
should be made to die the second time 
to-morrow. 

"In the name, then, of humanity and 
heaven, I conjure you to order their lives 
not to be taken ; and 1 repeat to you 
again that I am sure that my sover- 
eign, His Majesty the King of 
Prussia, and ail the monavchs of Europe 
united by the ties of blood with the im- 
prisoned Prince, namely, his brother, 
the Emperor of Austria, his cousin, the 
Qneenof the British Empire, his brother- 
in-law, the King of the Belgians, and 
his cousins, also, the Queen of Spain 
and the Kings of Italy and Sweden, will 
easily understand how to give His Ex- 
cellency Senor Don Benito Juarez all 
the requisite securities that none of the 
three prisoners will ever return to walk 
on the Mexican Territory. 

" A. V. Magxus." 

To this appeal the present President 
of Republic, then Juarez's Secretary ot 
State, sent the following reply : 

" Senor Baron A. V. Magnns : 

" I am pained to tell you, in answer to 
tbe telegram which you have been 
pleased to send to me to-night, tliat, as 
I declared to you day before yesterday, 
in this city, the President of the Eepub- 
lic does not believe it possible to grant 
the pardon of the Archduke Maximilian, 
through the gravest considerations of 
justice, and of the necessity of assur- 
ing peace to the Republic. 

" Sebastian Leedo de Te.jai>a." 

No hope. Maximilian knew and felt 
it from the first, and so he had long ago 
made up his mind to die. He made one 
more effort, however, to save the lives 
of bis companions. On the ISth, the 
day before his execution, he sent the 
following dispatch to the President : 



"8enor Benito Juiirez : 

" I desire that you may preserve the 
lives of Don Miguel Miraraon and Don 
Tomas Mejia, who day before yestei- 
day suffered all tbe tortures and bitter- 
ness of death ; and, as I manifested on 
being taken prisoner, I should be the 
only victim. 

" Maximilian." 

To this touching appeal there never 
came an answer. The sullen and savage 
Indian was losing caste in this contrast 
with the chivalrous and christian Euro- 
pean, and to escape further humiliatiou. 
he added to his cruelty the natural 
national characteristic of stoicism. 

At about half past eleven o'clock, on 
the night of the 18th, Escobedo visited 
Maximilian. The interview was very 
brief. He asked the Emperor for his 
photograph, which was given him, shook 
hands with him at parting, and strode 
away a guilty, swarthy, conscienceless 
murderer, not daring to look back upon 
the young dauntless face, so fair and so 
fresh in its nobleness and beauty. 

The Emperor next prepared himself for 
death. He took from his finger his mar- 
riage ring, and gave it to his physician. 
Dr. Samuel Basch, requesting him to 
carry it to the Archduchess his mother. 
He still supposed his wife to be dead, 
and God in his mercy let him die so. 

There were yet some letters to write. 
The first was to Baron Largo : 

"I have nothing to look for in this 
world; and my last wishes are limited 
to my mortal remains, which soon will 
be free from suflering and under the 
favor of those who outlive me. My 
physician. Dr. Basch, will have my body 
transported to Vera Cruz. Two ser- 
vants, Gull and Tudas, will be the only 
ones who will accompany hitn. I have 
given orders that my body be carried to 
Vera Cruz without any pomp, and that 
no extraordinaiy ceremony be made on 
board. I await death calmly, and 1 
equally wish to enjoy calmness in the 
coffin. So arrange it, dear Baron, that 
Dr. Basch and my two servants be 
ti^ansported to Europe in one of the two 
war vesRel*!. 



i^iS 



saiXBY s jE:s.P£Drriox to mjixico ; 



"I wisli to be buried by the side of my 
poor wife. If tlie report of the death 
of my poor wife has do fouodatioB, my 
body should be deposited in some place 
until the Empress may meet me through 
death. 

"Have the goodness to transmit the 
necessary orders to the captain of the 
ship de Groeller. Have likewise the 
goodness to do all you can to have the 
widow of my faithful companion in 
arms, Miramon, go t9 Europ6 in ooe of 
the two war vessels. I rely the more 
upon this wish being complied Avith, in- 
asmuch as I have recommended her to 
place herself under my mother at Vi- 
enna. Yours, 

Maximilian. 

Qaeretaro, in the Prison of the Capuch- 

inas, 18th of June, 1867. 

The second letter was again to Jua- 
rez: 

'•QuERETARO, Juue 19, 1867. 
"Senor Benito Juarez : 

"About to receive Vieath in conse- 
quence of having wished to prove 
whether new political institutions could 
succeed in putting an end to the 
bloody civil war which has devastated 
for so many years this unfortunate coun- 
try, I shall lose my life with pleasure if 
its sacrifice can contribute to the peace 
and prosperity of my new country. 
Fully persuaded that nothing solid can 
be founded on a soil drenched in blood 
and agitated by violent commotions, 1 
conjure you, in the most solemn manner 
and with the true sincerity of the 
moments in which I iind my- 
self, that my blood may be 
the last to be spilt; that the same per- 
severance which I was pleased to recog- 
nize and esteem in the midst of prosper- 
ity—that with which you have defended 
the cause which has just triumphed — 
may consecrate that blood to the most 
noble task of reconciling the minds of 
the people, and in founding in a stable 
and durable manner the peace and tran- 
quility of this unfortunate country. 

"Maximilian." 

This was all. ITie morning broke fair 
axid white in the sky, and at half past 



six three carriages drew up in front of 
the main gate of the Convent of the 
Capuchinas. The bells rang in all the 
steeples, there were soldiers everywhere, 
and long lines of glittering steel that 
rose and fell in yet the soft, sweet hush 
of the morniag. 

Into the first carriage got Masimiliau 
and Father Soria, a priest. The Em- 
peror's dress was very plain. He wore 
a single-breasted black frock coat, witii 
i all the buttons buttoned except the last 
one, a black vest, neck-tie and panta- 
loons, plain cavalry boots, and a wide- 
brimmed hat, or sombrero. 

In the second carriage there cauio 
Miramon and his priest, in the third 
Mejia and his. Then the solemn cortege 
started. In the extreme advance five 
cavalry rode, the one behind the other, 
witli an interval between of twenty 
paces, and yet further in front of the 
liye, there rode a solitary corporal. A 
company of infantry, eighty rank and 
file, came after the cavalry. Then fol- 
lowed the carriages, escorted by a bat- 
talion of sharp shooters, one half of 
whom flanked each side of the road, 
marching parallel with the vehicles. A 
rear guard of two hundred and fifty 
mounted men closed the mournful pro- 
cession. 

The sun arose and poured its un- 
clouded rays over the city. All the 
people were in the streets. On the faces 
of the multitude there were evidences 
of genuine and unaffected sorrow. 
Some among the crowd lifted their hats 
as the victimspassed along, some turned 
away their heads and wept, and some, 
even amid the soldiers and amid the 
hostile ranks of the Liberals, fell upon 
their knees and wept. 

The place of surrender was to be the 
place of execution. Northwest of the 
city a mile or more, the Hill of the Bells, 
Bl Cerro de las Cam/panas, npreared it- 
self. It was enclosed on three sides by 
six thousand soldiers of all arms, leav- 
ing the rear or uncovered sule resting 
upon a wall. 

It was half past seven o-clock when 
the carriages halted at the place of exe- 



AN T'\\\i;i rii:\ i.i;ai (M iiii: w \i;. 



i^r 



cation. Maximilian was the first to 
alight. He stepped prondlj' down, took 
a liandkerchief from bis pocket and liia 
hat from his head, and beckoned for 
one of his Mexican servants to approach. 

The man came. 

"Tate these,"' the Emperor said, 
"They are all 1 have to give.'" 

The faithful Indian took them, kissed 
there, cried over thera, fell apon his 
knees a few moments in prayer to the 
good God for the good master, and arose 
a hero. 

In front of the dead wall three crosses 
had been firmly imbedded in the 
ground. On each side was a placard 
bearing the name of the victims to be 
immolated there. That upon the right 
was where the Emperor was to be shot, 
that ia the centre was Miramon, that 
upon the left for the grim old stoic and 
fighter, Mejia. 

Maximilian stroked down the luxuri- 
ant growth of his long yellow beard, as 
it was his constant habit to do, and 
walked firmly to his place. 

The three men embraced each otlier 
three times. To Mejia he said: 

"We will meet in heaven." 

Mejia bowed, smiled, and laid his? hand 
upon his heart. 

To Miramon he said: 
■ "Brave men are respected by eove- 
reigns— permit me to give you the place 
of honor." 

As he said this he took Miramon gen- 
tly by the arm and led him to the centre 
cross, embracing him as he left him for 
the last time. 

Escobedo Vv-as not on the ground. An 
aide-de-camp, however, brought per- 
mission for each of the victims to de- 
liver a farewell address. The Emperor 
spoke briefly: 

"Persons o£ my rank and birth are 
brought into the world either to insure 
the welfare of the people, or to die as 
martyrs. I did not come to Mexico 
from motives of ambition. 1 came at 
the earnest entreaty of those who de- 
sired the welfare of our country. 
Mexicans, I pray that my blood may be 
the );ist to be shed for our unhappy 



country, and nuiyitiusnic the happine>3 
of the nation. Mexicans! Long lira 
Mexico !•' 

Mejia drew himself up as a soldier on 
duty, looked up once at the unclouded 
sky, and around u])on all the fragrant 
and green growing things, and bowed 
his head without speaking. 

Miramon drew from liis pocket ». 
small piece of Dapcr anl read as fol- 
lows : 

"Mexicans ! behold me, condemacd 
by a Council of War, and condemned to 
death as a traitor. In these moment* 
which do not belong to me, in which 
my life is already that of the Supremo 
Being, before the entire world I pro- 
claim that I have never been a traitor 
to my country. 1 have defended mj 
opinions, but my children will never be 
ashamed of their father. I have not 
the stain of treason, neither will it pasa 
to my children. Mexicans! Long live 
Mexico ! Long live the Emperor !" 

When Miramon ceased reading, Maxi- 
milian placed his hand on his breast^ 
threw up his head, and cried out in a 
singularly calm and panetrating voic* 

" Fire !" 

Eighteen muskets were discharged £ • 
one musket. Mejia and Miramon die;, 
instantly. Four ballets struck the Em- 
peror, three in the left and one in the 
right breast Three of these balle:^ 
passed entirely through his body, coiri 
iog oat high up on the left shoulder, tli 
other remained bnbedded ia the righi 
lung. The Emperor fell a little side- 
ways and Bix)n his right side, exclaim- 
ing almost gently and sadly : 

" Oh \ Eoml)re! Homhre! Oh! m.tr. ! 
Oh ! man !" 

He was not yet dead. A soldier went 
close up to iiim and tired into hi3 
stomach. The Emperor moved slightly, 
as if still sensible to pain. Another 
came out from the firing party, and, 
putting the muiwle of his musket close 
up to his breast, shot him fairly thi-ongl* 
the heart. 

The tragedy was ended; Mexiean 
vengeance was satisfied ; the soul of 
the unfortunate Prince waj^ with i*9 



SHELBY S EXPEDITION TO MEXICO 



Ood, and until the Judgment day the 
Iblood of one who was too young and 
too gentle to die, will cry oat from the 

gronnd, even as the blood of Abel. Too 
generous to desert his comrades, too 
pure in heart to rule as he should have 
ruled, too coBiidiog: to tieep a crown be- 
stowed l>y a race bred to revolation, 
and too merciful in all the ways and 
walks of life to maintain fast hold upon 
a throne carved out from conquest aod 
military powC'r, he died as he had lived, 
— ^^imperial in manhood and heroic in the 
tiiseharge of every duty. 



"II K KXJ'», 



"POOS CAEI^TA." 
[Ftoui tlic Kansas City Tiuic«,Mi!.y 23, ISli). i 

Dispatches from Europe say that tlie 
malady is at its worst, and that the 
young: widow of Maximilian is near her 
death hour. Ah ! when the grim king 
does come, he will brinp: to her a bless- 
ing and a benediction. The beautiful 
liirown eyes have been lustreless these 
many months ; the tresses of her sanny 
hair have long ago been scorched with 
fever pain ; the beautiful and brave 
young Spartan, rich in energy, in loye, 
in passionate devotion, knows no more 
the roses and lawns of Miramar ; the 
Mediterranean brings no more from 
over perilous seas the silken pennon of 
her fair-haired, royal sailor lover ; it is 
quiet about Laoken, where the Empress 
lays a-dying ; but Time will never see 
Rueh another woman die until the whole 
world dies. 

It is not much to die in one's own bed, 
pessrceful of conscience and weary of 
tfiiild-bearing. The naked age is 
^rowded thick with little loves, and 



rose-water lines, and the pink and the 
white of the bridal toilettes. Here is a 
queen now in extremity, who reigned in 
the tropics and whose fate has over' it. 
the lurid grandeur of a volcano. A 
sweet Catholic school-girl she was when 
the Austrian came a wooing, with a ship 
of the line for chariot. Bhe played mu- 
sical instruments ; she had painted rare 
pictures of Helen, 'and Omphale in the 
arms of Hercules, and Jeanne d'Arc 
with the yellow hair, and the pensive 
Roland — her of the iSTorman face — over 
whose black doom there stii! flits a ruddy 
fervor, streaks of bright southern tint, 
not wholly swallowed up of death. 
Yes! it was a love-match, rare in king- 
craft and court cunniiig. Old Leopold's, 
daughter mariied with the flags of three 
uations waving over her, amid the roar 
of artillery and the broadsides of bat- 
tle ships. The aea gave its sapphire 
bloom and the skies their benison- Afar 
off French eagles were seen, alas! to 
shadow all the life of the Inide with 
the blood of the husband. The Nine- 
teenth Century witnessed the heroic 
epic which darkened to such a tragedy. 
She came to Mexico, bringing in her gen- 
tle hands two milk-white doves, as it 
were. Charity and Religion. 

j^ure as all women; stainless as an 
angel-guarded child ; proud as Edith of 
the swan's neck ; beautiful ; a queen of 
all hearts where honor dwelt; mistress 
of the realms of music ; rare in the em- 
broidery she wove ; having time for 
literature and letters ; sensuous only in 
the melody of her voice ; never a 
mother— it were as though God had sent 
an angel of light to redeem a barbaric 
race and sanctify a degraded people. 
How she tried and how she suflered, let 
the fever which is burning her up alive 
give answer. It is not often that the 
world looks upon such a death-bed. 
Yet in the rosy and radiant toils of the 
honeymoon, a bride came to govern an 
empire where armies did her bidding, 
and French Marshals, scarred at Inker- 
mann and Solferino, kissed with loyal 
lips her jeweled hand and murmured 
through their gray moustaches words of 



AN UNWRITTEN LEAF OF THE WRK, 



139 



soldierly truth and valor. Slie sate her- 
self down ia the palace of the Monte- 
zamas and looked out amid the old elms 
where Cortez's swart cavaliers had made 
love in the moonlight, their blades not dry 
with blood of the morning's battle ; upon 
Chepultepec, that had seen the cold glit- 
ter of American steel and the gleam of 
defiant battle-Qags; upon the Alemada 
where Alvarado tooktbe Indian maiden 
to kiss, who drove the steel straight for 
his heart, and missed, and found a surer 
llodgro.ent in her own. 

All these were bridal gifts to the Aus- 
trian's bride— tlie brown-eyed, beauti- 
ful Carlota. Xoble white vision in a 
land of red harlots, with soft, pitying, 
tjueenly face; hair flowing down to the 
i^irdle, and as true a heart as ever beat 
ia woman's bosom. As a Grecian stat- 
ae, serenely complete, she shines out in 
that black wreck of things a star. 

It came suddenly, tliat death of her 
lover and her husband. It dared not 
draw near when the French eagles flew, 
tat afterward what a fate for one so 
I oyal and so brave. God shielded the 
tried heart from the blow of his last 
words, for thej^ were so tender as to 
carry a sorrow they could not heal. 
"Poor Carlota!" Youth, healtb, reason, 
crown, throne, empire, armies, husband, 
all gone. Why should the fates be so 
pitiless and so unspaiing? 



Somewhere in eternity — Avithinsome 
golden palace walls, wliero old, imperial 
banners float, and Launcelots keep 
guard, and Arthurs reign, and all the 
patriot heroes dwell, her Maximilian is 
waiting for his bride. Long ago that 
spotless soul has been there. Let death 
come quickly and take the body, and 
end its misery and subdue its pain. All 
that is imihortal of Carlota is with her 
husband. The tragedy is nearly over. 
In an age of iron, and steam, and armies, 
and a world at peace, it remained for a 
woman to teach nations how an Em- 
press loves and dies. Who shall dare to 
say hereafter there is nothing in blood 
or birth? What gentle sister, in the 
struggle and turmoil of life, will look 
away from that death-bed in Lacken 
Castle, and not bless God for being a 
woman aad of the sex of her who is 
dying for her king and her empire"? 
Sleep ! the angels have no need of sleep. 
Nothing suffices love. Having happi- 
ness, one wishes for Paradise; having 
Paradise, one wishes for Heaven. There 
is a starry transfiguration mingled with 
her crucifixion. The crown is almost 
hers, and in the beautiful garden of 
souls she will find oDoe more the Mon- 
arch of her vonth. 



LBAg'05 5FP 23 W45 



